DID YOU KNOW THAT?  '

February 11, 1813 - Harriet Ann Jacobs, author and abolitionist speaker, was born enslaved in Edenton, North Carolina. As a young woman, Jacobs was sexually harassed by her owner and by 1835 the situation had become so unbearable that she d...ecided to escape. She did so by hiding in her grandmother’s small attic for seven years before escaping to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1842. In 1849, Jacobs moved to Rochester, New York where she joined the Anti-Slavery Society and became more politicized. In 1861, she published her autobiography, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” which was popular among abolitionist. During the Civil War, Jacobs worked in Alexandria, Virginia to help organize, feed, and shelter black people escaping slavery and the poor free black people of the region. On January 11, 1864 the Jacobs Free School was opened. Jacobs also contributed to the building of hospitals, churches, schools, and homes for newly freed black people. Jacobs died March 7, 1897.

 

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