First published in 1861, &quot;Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,&quot; Harriet Jacobs&#39; autobiography, is the story of a woman who overcomes the odds to save her family is similar. Under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Jacobs details her life as a woman enslaved at the height of the abolitionist movement.<br /><br />As the narrative opens, Linda Brent recounts the &quot;unusually fortunate circumstances&quot; of her early childhood before she realized she was a slave. Linda&#39;s father is a carpenter who &mdash; because of his extraordinary skills &mdash; is granted many of the privileges of a free man. The chapter introduces Linda&#39;s mother, her brother William, and her Uncle Benjamin, who is sold at age ten. Linda also introduces her maternal grandmother (referred to as Aunt Martha by the white community), a strong-willed, resourceful woman who establishes a bakery to earn money to buy her children&#39;s freedom. She manages to earn $300, which she loans to her mistress, who never repays her.<br />When Linda is six years old, her mother dies. When she is 12, her mistress dies, and Linda is sold to the five-year-old daughter of her mistress&#39; sister...<br /><br />&quot;Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl&quot; is the most widely-read female antebellum slave narrative.