‘Rise Up, Ye Women’
Harriet Jacobs & the Bible
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v5i2.171Keywords:
abolition, Bible, gender, literacy, race, sexuality, slaveryAbstract
Harriet Jacobs was the first female to write and publish a narrative about her earlier life in slavery. It is a story unlike any written by her male counterparts, especially as she details the psychological impact of the harrowing sexual exploitation of nineteenth-century antebellum enslavement. Her Incidents is full of citations of and allusions to the Bible, which she learned to read as a very young girl. She developed a strategy for interpreting the pages of the Bible to challenge commonly held southern interpretations that supported the slaveholding aristocracy surrounding her. Her appropriation of the Bible allowed her to defend her humanity and maintain her dignity.
References
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Aymer, Margaret. 2008. First Pure, Then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass Reads James. New York: T & T Clark International.
Bassard, Katherine Clay. 1999. Spiritual Interrogations: Spiritual Interrogations: Culture, Gender, and Community in Early African American Women’s Writing. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Bibb, Henry. 1999 (orig. 1849). Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849–1866, edited by Yuval Taylor, 1–101. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Callahan, Allen. 2006. The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Carson, Sharon. 1994. “Dismantling the House of the Lord: Theology as Political Philosophy in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Journal of Religious Thought 51: 53–66.
Craft, William. 1999 [1860]. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom Or, The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849-1866,edited by Yuval Taylor, 482–531. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
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Douglass, Frederick. 1999 [1845]. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume One, 1772–1849,edited by Yuval Taylor, 523–599. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Equiano, Olaudah. 1999 [1789]. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume One, 1772–1849,edited by Yuval Taylor, 29–180. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Foster, Frances Smith. 1979. Witnessing Slavery: The Development of Ante-bellum Slave Narratives. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. 1989. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grimké, Angelina. 2000 [1836]. “An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South.” In Against Slavery: An Abolitionist Reader,edited by Mason Lowance, 197–203. New York: Penguin Books.
Gronniosaw, James Albert Ukawsaw. 1999 [1772]. A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, An African Prince. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume One, 1772–1849,edited by Yuval Taylor, 1–28. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Jacobs, Harriet. 1999 [1861]. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849-1866,edited by Yuval Taylor, 533–681. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Long, Charles. 1986. Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Religion. Fortress Press.
Mars, James. 1999 [1864]. Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849-1866,edited by Yuval Taylor, 721–739. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Pennington, James. 1999 (orig. 1849). “The Fugitive Blacksmith; or, Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States.” In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849–1866, edited by Yuval Taylor, 133–158. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Powery, Emerson B. 2007. “The Bible and the ‘Slave Narrative.’” Unpublished paper presented at the Southeast Regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.
Prince, Mary. 1988 [1831]. The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave. In Six Women’s Slave Narratives, edited by William L. Andrews, 1–23. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith Abraham. 1998. “Putting ‘Paul’ Back Together Again: William Wells Brown’s Clotel and Black Abolitionist Approaches to Paul.” Semeia 83/84: 251–262.
Sugirtharajah, R. S. 2001. The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612619
Taves, Ann. 1987. “Spiritual Purity and Sexual Shame: Religious Themes in the Writings of Harriet Jacobs.” Church History 56: 59–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3165304
Taylor, Yuval, ed. 1999. I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849–1866. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Truth, Sojourner. 1993 [1850]. Narrative of Sojourner Truth, edited by Margaret Washington. New York: Vintage Books.
Washington, Margaret. 1993. “Introduction.” In Narrative of Sojourner Truth, edited by Margaret Washington, ix–xxxiii. New York: Vintage Books.
Weems, Renita. 1991. “Reading Her Way through the Struggle: African American Women and the Bible.” In Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, edited by Cain Hope Felder, 57–77. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Williams, Demetrius. 2007. “The Acts of the Apostles.” In True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary, edited by Brian K. Blount, Cain Hope Felder, Clarice J. Martin and Emerson B. Powery, 213–248. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Wimbush, Vincent. 1991. “The Bible and African Americans: An Outline of an Interpretive History.” In Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, edited by Cain Hope Felder, 81–97. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
———. 2001. “Introduction.” In African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Textures, edited by Vincent Wimbush. New York: Continuum.
———, ed. 2008. Theorizing Scriptures: New Critical Orientations to a Cultural Phenomenon. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Yellin, Jean Fagan. 1991. “Texts and Contexts of Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself.” In The Slave’s Narrative, edited by Charles T. Davis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 262–282. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2004. Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York: Basic Civitas Books.
Aymer, Margaret. 2008. First Pure, Then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass Reads James. New York: T & T Clark International.
Bassard, Katherine Clay. 1999. Spiritual Interrogations: Spiritual Interrogations: Culture, Gender, and Community in Early African American Women’s Writing. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Bibb, Henry. 1999 (orig. 1849). Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849–1866, edited by Yuval Taylor, 1–101. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Callahan, Allen. 2006. The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Carson, Sharon. 1994. “Dismantling the House of the Lord: Theology as Political Philosophy in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Journal of Religious Thought 51: 53–66.
Craft, William. 1999 [1860]. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom Or, The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849-1866,edited by Yuval Taylor, 482–531. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Crafts, Hannah. 1859. The Bondwoman’s Narrative. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Warner Books, 2002.
Douglass, Frederick. 1999 [1845]. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume One, 1772–1849,edited by Yuval Taylor, 523–599. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Equiano, Olaudah. 1999 [1789]. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume One, 1772–1849,edited by Yuval Taylor, 29–180. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Foster, Frances Smith. 1979. Witnessing Slavery: The Development of Ante-bellum Slave Narratives. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. 1989. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grimké, Angelina. 2000 [1836]. “An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South.” In Against Slavery: An Abolitionist Reader,edited by Mason Lowance, 197–203. New York: Penguin Books.
Gronniosaw, James Albert Ukawsaw. 1999 [1772]. A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, An African Prince. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume One, 1772–1849,edited by Yuval Taylor, 1–28. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Jacobs, Harriet. 1999 [1861]. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849-1866,edited by Yuval Taylor, 533–681. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Long, Charles. 1986. Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Religion. Fortress Press.
Mars, James. 1999 [1864]. Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut. In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849-1866,edited by Yuval Taylor, 721–739. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Pennington, James. 1999 (orig. 1849). “The Fugitive Blacksmith; or, Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States.” In I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849–1866, edited by Yuval Taylor, 133–158. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Powery, Emerson B. 2007. “The Bible and the ‘Slave Narrative.’” Unpublished paper presented at the Southeast Regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.
Prince, Mary. 1988 [1831]. The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave. In Six Women’s Slave Narratives, edited by William L. Andrews, 1–23. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith Abraham. 1998. “Putting ‘Paul’ Back Together Again: William Wells Brown’s Clotel and Black Abolitionist Approaches to Paul.” Semeia 83/84: 251–262.
Sugirtharajah, R. S. 2001. The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612619
Taves, Ann. 1987. “Spiritual Purity and Sexual Shame: Religious Themes in the Writings of Harriet Jacobs.” Church History 56: 59–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3165304
Taylor, Yuval, ed. 1999. I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives; Volume Two, 1849–1866. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Truth, Sojourner. 1993 [1850]. Narrative of Sojourner Truth, edited by Margaret Washington. New York: Vintage Books.
Washington, Margaret. 1993. “Introduction.” In Narrative of Sojourner Truth, edited by Margaret Washington, ix–xxxiii. New York: Vintage Books.
Weems, Renita. 1991. “Reading Her Way through the Struggle: African American Women and the Bible.” In Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, edited by Cain Hope Felder, 57–77. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Williams, Demetrius. 2007. “The Acts of the Apostles.” In True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary, edited by Brian K. Blount, Cain Hope Felder, Clarice J. Martin and Emerson B. Powery, 213–248. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Wimbush, Vincent. 1991. “The Bible and African Americans: An Outline of an Interpretive History.” In Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, edited by Cain Hope Felder, 81–97. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
———. 2001. “Introduction.” In African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Textures, edited by Vincent Wimbush. New York: Continuum.
———, ed. 2008. Theorizing Scriptures: New Critical Orientations to a Cultural Phenomenon. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Yellin, Jean Fagan. 1991. “Texts and Contexts of Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself.” In The Slave’s Narrative, edited by Charles T. Davis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 262–282. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2004. Harriet Jacobs: A Life. New York: Basic Civitas Books.
Published
2011-11-14
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Powery, E. B. (2011). ‘Rise Up, Ye Women’: Harriet Jacobs & the Bible. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 5(2), 171-184. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v5i2.171
