Harriet Ann Jacobs
Harriet Ann Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina.
Taught to read and write by her mother's mistress, she endured years of sexual harassment from her master, Dr. James Norcom, after being willed to his young daughter.
To escape his advances, she entered a consensual relationship with lawyer Samuel Sawyer, bearing two children.
After years of unbearable conditions, she hid in her grandmother's cramped attic crawlspace for nearly seven years before escaping north.
She later worked as a nursemaid, became involved in abolitionist circles, and published her autobiography in 1861.
