(Bought at the Strand book stall in Central Park for $10) Harriet Jacobs' narrative of her enslaved life is a powerful record of the conditions endured by African-Americans before emancipation. in refined prose, Jacobs details the sexual harassment she endured from her lecherous master who promised her a house and light labor if she would consent to be his mistress (a common practice in the slaveholding South). Her travails include hiding in her free grandmother's house for seven years until she finally had the opportunity to escape to the North. But her troubles don't end there as the Fugitive Slave Law comes into effect and her former master and his family attempt to reclaim her. This is a fascinating true account of what slavery was like and how black people tried to live their lives with dignity and family despite the enormous hardships placed on them.
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