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What'sHerName

THE FREE WOMAN Harriet Jacobs

What'sHerName

Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8538 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2020

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Harriet Jacobs’ enslaver threatened to sell her children away to the plantation unless she accepted his sexual abuse, she decided the only way to keep them safe was to run. But with no resources and no way to get north, where could she go instead? The answer is an astonishing one. Jacobs’ story is one of the most dramatic and remarkable ‘slave narratives’ in United States history, yet for over 100 years, everyone believed it was fiction. Discover the incredible life and astonishing history of Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and a powerful activist, abolitionist and educator in the ninteenth century United States. A full transcript of this episode is available here. Guest Maria A. Windell is assistant professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she teaches classes on ethnic and early US literatures. Her research focuses on intersections between the US and the Americas, and her book Transamerican Sentimentalism and Nineteenth-Century US Literary History is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. She co-edited, with Jesse Alemán, a special issue of English Language Notes on “Latinx Lives in Hemispheric Context.” She is currently working on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary flirts and the classification of 'coquette hummingbirds' in Central America. Music featured in this episode provided by Andy Reiner, Jon Souza, I Think I Can Help You, Doug Maxwell, and the Library of Congress. Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:06.8

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0:14.3

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0:17.2

40 poundsy gift card applies for new Home Essentials policies purchased direct between the 5th of March and the 28th of April 2026.

0:24.2

See times and conditions at Sheila's Wheels.com.

0:29.7

This episode contains discussion of sexual violence that may be upsetting to some listeners and may not be appropriate for children.

0:37.5

This episode is sponsored by our Patreon supporters,

0:40.7

Chantelle Oliver, and Mandy, Rob and Virginia Booty.

0:44.2

If you want to help support our mission to put the women back into world history,

0:48.2

visit our Patreon page and sign up today.

1:05.1

Reader, my story ends with freedom, not in the usual way with marriage.

1:08.9

I and my children are now free.

1:11.3

Hi, Katie.

1:12.2

Hi, Olivia.

1:14.0

I am going to tell you the story of a woman who

1:17.5

escaped from enslavement in the American South,

1:21.9

moved to the north, became a leading abolitionist,

1:26.9

working to free other enslaved people, including members of her own family.

1:31.5

Huh.

1:32.3

And eventually became one of the most prominent free black activists and educators in the United States.

1:39.6

And her name was Harriet?

1:43.3

Yes.

...

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