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An Annotated Bibliography: Famous Slaves

Landon Pringle
Miss Schmidt
English 11
5/22/16
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"Harriet A. Jacobs (Harriet Ann), 1813-1897." Harriet A. Jacobs (Harriet Ann), 1813-1897.
N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Harriet Ann Jacobs who was born in Edenton North Carolina was a born slave. She was born

into ownership of Andrew Knox. Under the ownership of Knox she was treated well. She

did not know she was owned because her mistress taught her how to read and write, along

with skills like sewing. After her mistress and her husband died she was given to the niece of

her mistress who was only two years old. Young Harriet was now in control and owned by

Margaret Horniblow. Her father saw that she was obviously to young to have any control

over the Harriet so he became the temporary owner. Now Harriet had it very tough. With her

new owners father who was named Dr.Norcom he would try to sexually harass the young

teen. She would avoid all contact with this disgraceful man up until the age of 22. In which

she decided she need to escape. She devised a plan to leave. She made a small borrow in her

grandmothers house. She then stayed in that small borrow for ten years. Writing to her

master to fool of her where about. She then learned that Norcom had sold her children and

she thought it was finally time to escape. She escaped to the north by boat finding her

children in Washington D.C. and New York. She then found work as a house maid to

support her family. She then decided to make a statement about slavery after being finally in

a secured location. She ended up writing a book called Uncle Tom's Cabin in which ignited

a flame to stop slavery. She also wrote letters to newspapers like the New York Tribune and

other credible newspapers.

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"Sojourner Truth A Life and Legacy of Faith." Sojourner Truth A Life and Legacy of Faith. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Sojourner Truth or Isabella was born into slavery in 1797. Her parents were James and

Betsey. And they were all owned by Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. She lived in Ulster

county New York and this is place where she married. She married another slave by the

name of Thomas in which they had five children together. The children were Diana, Peter,

Elizabeth, and Sophia. The fifth child died while in birth. Isabella was sold four times until

she became free with her new born daughter Sophia. She then moved to New York City and

found work to support her family. After 17 years she was finally stable and made a decision

to speak out about slavery just like Douglass and Jacobs did. She also changed her name

from Isabella to Sojourner Truth which we know her today as. For ten years she went around

the country talking about the struggles of slavery and was a big advocator for women's

rights. She worked along side Fredrick Douglass in most cases and her most famous words

were "Is God dead?" To Fredrick Douglass. She then moved to Battle Creek Michigan in

which she lived the remainder of her life helping out runaway slaves. She has her famous

phrase written on her tomb stone. Sojourner and Douglass worked hard to speak about there

experiences with slavery both becoming very well known in history.

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery at unknown date. She was one of nine children that

her parents Harriet Green and Ben Ross had. She was thought to be born between the dates

of 1808 and 1832. Her birth name was Araminta Harriet Ross but she is now known as

Harriet Tubman. She and her family were owned by Mary Pattison Brodess and she sold
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three of Harriets four sisters to different plantations. Harriet had it rough as a slave being

whipped five times before breakfast. She carried scars for the rest of her life. Constantly

reminding her of the horrible times. The worst of her injuries was when she was instructed to

capture a slave she refused and hit in the head with a two pound weight. In the end she had

seizures and severe headaches for the rest of her life. Harriets father was freed at the age of

45, which gave Harriet ideas to escape. None the less she did not escape, she then married a

freed black man by the name of John Tubman. At the time almost all slaves east of

Washington D.C. were freed. After her mother died she changed her name to Harriet

Tubman in honor of her and this is what she is known as today. After her mom died she

made the decision to escape, she then escaped to Philadelphia in 1849. She did with her

brother but after 90 miles he turned back to the plantation. She had no intentions of going

back so she headed on without him. She felt relieved or "in heaven" as she said that she was

out of slavery. After a while she went back and ran the underground railroad freeing more

slaves than ever before.

Douglass, Frederick, and Benjamin Quarles. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An
American Slave. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1960. Print
Fredrick Douglass was a slave that had made a major impact in the world of the late 1800's.

Douglass was born into slavery at an unknown date because at the time slave owners did not

want to give any information to there slaves. As they saw it as making them more than just a

free worker. Douglass had a better childhood than most slaves would get because he did not

have to work in any field. He was used for inside choirs most of his life. Douglass was

moved around a lot with different owners going from different cities in Maryland he ended

up in Baltimore. He did the same things as he did before working inside in the kitchen

mostly. He first went to Baltimore and his first mistress was different from other mistresses.
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She did not treat Douglass poorly but she actually taught him how to read short words and

write in some contexts. Douglass's owner and husband of the mistress found out and told her

that a slave becomes no good if he is literate. As the mistress was exposed to other owners

she becomes blind to the sight of slaves and acts like any other plantation mistress. Douglass

was forced to learn different ways. He would pay the neighbor kids with food to teach him

how to read so he can better him self since he would not get help from anyone else. He did

this for a time until he finally became literate. After Douglass was moved again and did the

same jobs as he did before, he started to get very intelligent. With his new owner he worked

in the kitchen with his aunt and sister and they had to steal food because the owner would

refuse to feed them. One day Douglass was cleaning and transporting his masters horse

when it ran away to the neighbors property. He was greeted with a full meal there and was

very happy. So he would let the horse run away several more times until his master caught

on and sent him away. He was sent to a man to make disobeying slaves obedient. This was

Douglass's first time working in the field and he failed at his first task. In which he was

whipped for. He was then whipped every day after that. He then was released and his owner

became more lenient. He let Douglass find his own work but he had to pay the man every

week. Douglass failed to pay the man one time and his owner wanted to restrict his rights.

Douglass then escaped from slavery very shortly after. He then found a stable job in the

north and became a major figure for the anti slave movement. He was a major factor on

making slavery abolished. He spoke every where in the north traveling around and spreading

his horrible experiences