Women and Freedom: Three Female Slave Narratives

· Open Road Media
3.7
3 reviews
Ebook
548
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About this ebook

In these classic memoirs, three indomitable women share their stories of surviving slavery and fighting for the freedom of others.
 
Behind the Scenes: Born into slavery, Elizabeth Keckley used her talents as a seamstress to buy her freedom and eventually became Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. Keckley and the first lady formed a close friendship as they endured tragedies together, including the deaths of their sons and the assassination of President Lincoln. Keckley’s autobiography is an intimate portrait of life inside the White House as well as the stirring story of one woman’s fight to rise above the horrors of enslavement.
 
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: From the age of six, Linda Brent grows up serving a gentle mistress who teaches her to read and write. But when she tragically dies, Linda’s lecherous new master makes her life a living hell. Unable to join her two young children in their escape to the North, Linda hides in the attic above her grandmother’s house. For seven years, she waits for the opportunity to reunite with her son and daughter in the land of freedom. But when the chance finally comes, Linda discovers she has yet more pain to endure. Based on the true story of Harriet Jacobs’s escape from the South, this is one of American literature’s most powerful indictments of the evils of slavery.
 
The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: After escaping enslavement, Sojourner Truth sued for her son’s release—the first time in American history that a black woman brought a white man to court and won. From then on, she made it her life’s mission to free all those who were considered less than equal. A major force in the abolitionist and women’s rights movements, Truth inspired generations with her legendary “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech. She also personally met with President Lincoln in 1864. Her stirring memoir is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

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3.7
3 reviews

About the author

Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907) was a dressmaker, civil rights activist, and entrepreneur who escaped a life of slavery to become the close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. She is best remembered for her memoir, Behind the Scenes:Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Fours Years in the White House.

Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) was an American author. Born into slavery in North Carolina, she escaped in 1835, and spent seven years hiding in her grandmother’s attic before fleeing to the North. In 1861, she published her memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, under the pseudonym Linda Brent. Jacobs spent the Civil War and Reconstruction periods traveling the country, advocating on behalf of the rights of freed slaves.

Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) was a civil and women’s rights activist. She was raised in Dutch-speaking Ulster County, New York, and was bought and sold into slavery four times. In 1827, Truth ran away with her child and found refuge with an abolitionist family. Once freed, Truth moved to New York City, where she became an itinerant preacher and worked with other abolitionists to spread the word on antislavery and women’s rights. In her later years, she became involved with the Freedmen’s Bureau in Washington, DC, lobbying against the Civil War and segregation.

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