On February 11, 1813, freedom seeker, writer and abolitionist Harriet Jacobs was born in Edenton.
Jacobs spent her childhood unaware of her station in life but, when her white mistress, Margaret Horniblow, died in 1825, she and her brother John were willed to Horniblow’s 3-year-old niece, Mary Norcom, and were placed under the control of Norcom’s father, Dr. James Norcom.
After suffering years of physical abuse and sexual harassment at the hands of Norcom, Jacobs fled in 1835 and went into hiding in the attic of her paternal grandmother, Molly Horniblow, a free black woman living in Edenton a block away from Norcom. According to Jacobs’ memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, she lived in that restricted space for almost seven years until she managed to escape north via Edenton’s maritime Underground Railroad.
Jacobs gained her full and legal freedom 10 years later. While living the life of a freedom seeker, Jacobs became an anti-slavery activist and an abolitionist author. By the time of the Civil War, as a free African American woman, Jacobs served as a relief worker dedicated to assisting the newly freed people of the South.
Other related resources:
- An online resource on Harriet Jacobs from Historic Edenton
- Historic Edenton State Historic Site and events at Historic Edenton
- The Civil Rights Movement on NCpedia
- Celebrate Black History! from the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
- Images related to civil rights from the State Archives
Image from Historic Edenton State Site.