Few books will leave a lasting impact on your perspective, even a few less will leave an impact on your soul. This is one such book. What Ms. Jacobs has done is given us an account of what it was like to live a life in bondage, terror, and uncertainty. No hope, ever, of freedom or to live a normal life as they observed their masters living. The struggle to endure a life of bondage is meticulously crafted in this horrifying narrative!
Ms. Jacobs spares no details on the humiliating and dreadful existence of what it was like to live a life in bondage; this is something no one alive today, despite recent attempts by other authors, one cannot know what it was like to live such a life. However, by examining this book, it is painfully obvious that the author is fully acknowledging her ordeal and how she triumphed over unreal circumstances and grotesque villains who clearly wanted to see her killed or violated in the most incomprehensible ways. The life of a slave is well documented in this account. Ms. Jacobs presents us with a graphic and chilling testimony by starting out on how slaves were acquired, their painful separation from their family, and their transportation method to the plantation. I was shocked beyond belief of how little or no pity existed from the slave master of separating families and even husbands and wives, never to see each other again, or how mothers were compelled to watch their children being sold like cattle on the slave block; she describes in chilling detail of one such incident on how one mother witnessed all of her seven children sold in front of her eyes never to see or visit them again in her lifetime!
The strength and passion of Ms. Jacobs’ story is overwhelming; we are so fortunate to have preserved this historical piece of American narrative. The pinnacle of enlightenment of this work is how Ms. Jacobs describes her living in her aunt’s attic for seven years and ‘peeking’ through cracks in the wall to see her children grow-up and struggle through life; she never gave up her quest to preserve her dignity and integrity as a woman. The story is so remarkable in the fact that she constantly relates, with heavy pieces of information, of how slaves were viewed and treated. It is a vital testament to the surroundings, especially of a slave woman, to have such exceptional writing skills, and to relate such a horrid tale of such a subject, but permit in such poetical eloquence; however, it does not imply that this work is not drenched in sadness; it is. But the features of semantics and word choice that Ms. Jacobs instills in this account is stirring beyond imagination and feeling. It is impossible to discuss this work without using gigantic superlatives.
Ms. Jacobs gets quite personal with her perspectives on black as well as white society. She gives us notorious accounts of how female black slaves were even lower than that of a status of an animal, and what it took to survive in such a chasm of unbearable bondage to face the everyday dangers that slaves endured. For instance: most slaves always lived in fear of separation and being sexually violated; after all, you were considered just property and no laws were in place to protect a slave from any kind of cruel or unusual punishment. Slaves lived in constant fear of being beaten or even killed at any moment. Another daily occurrence for them was mother and fathers going in the fields to work and coming back, sometimes very late at night, only to find their spouse or one or all of their children had been sold. Imagine the pain! As this work advances the horrors of slavery, one finds immensely difficult to be without pity and embarrassment. The shocking horrors and cruelty of slavery are continuously revealed to us; Ms. Jacobs provides endless examples of how slaves, especially women, were compelled, without any consolation, to endure the most grotesque and inhumane quality of life there was in existence. And most folks looked the other way or accepted this as a standard norm of life, which it was!
The books atmosphere is dark and hopeless. How can a woman survive under such unimaginable circumstances? Even more intriguing is how can she preserve and manage her integrity and pride when it was always under attack? As the reader deep dives into this horrid account of bondage, Ms. Jacobs continues to enthrall us with putrid and disgusting portraits of the evil of slavery, including family members being sold, abused, humiliated, and even killed! This is not a book that just demonstrates facts; on the contrary, it is one woman’s testament of triumph and zealous devotion to her family and children. She was clever and astute with every choice she was forced to make that would advance her and her family to a better life; it is an account of a stormy journey that goes through evil characters and merciless villains who want nothing more than to extinguish her and her siblings. It is also a book about us, how the United States permitted such unethical behavior and used the most prestigious document ever known to the world to justify it: the United States Constitution!
This slave narrative is unique in the sense that it was composed by a woman, a black woman who had incredible odds crushing her body as well as her spirit; the psychological battles she fought are incomprehensible to us! But, in all fairness to superiority, it is a book of victory. This is a woman who survived, who melted the iron chains that bound her soul to an earth that was not in want of her. A woman who forged a new will of her own, who coronated a refulgent destiny in the eyes of a truncated catastrophe. A woman who forces us to study ourselves, examine our imperfections, and rejoices to promote prosperity and everlasting kindness to those who are inadequate or ignorant to acquire their own bravery or, also, cultivate an exquisite galaxy of retribution.
© 2024, Mark Grago. All rights reserved.