Harriet Jacobs and Incidents in the Life of a Slave From 1813 to 1879, there lived a woman of great dignity, strong will, and one desire. A woman considered nothing more than a simple slave would have given anything for the freedom of herself and her two children. Harriet Jacobs, who used the pen name Linda Brent, collected her life story in a small book called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Mrs. Jacobs' story, once read, will leave nothing but pity and pain in its readers when they discover the life she had to endure. Yet she boldly states, "[I] sincerely desire to awaken the women of the North to understand the meaning of the plight of two million Southern women still in bondage, suffering what I have suffered, and most of them much worse. I I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the free States what slavery really is." (preface 1) Harriet Jacobs wanted to show people that they weren't exactly experiencing slavery in hopes that it would influence them to put an end to it. While you can't help but pity Harriet Jacobs, you can also take her story and the hardships she endured and realize how strong a woman she was. Harriet was born into slavery. However, it wasn't until she was six that she realized she was a slave. Her life was filled with love from those around her. They were her mother who she was very fond of, her younger brother who she considered to be an intelligent child and her grandmother who was like a treasure to her. Harriet's father lived and worked out of state to support his family. After a few years her mother died and left Harriet and her brother William in the care of her mistress. Harriet loved her new lover and treated her as if she were her mother. When Harriet was twelve, her lover died. In her will her mistress left her to her sister's daughter at the age of five. Mr. Flint became his new "master". Mr. Flint was fond of Harriet because she was different from other slaves. She behaved with respect and was in fact a hard worker. Mr.