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Paula Tarnapol Whitacre

Paula Tarnapol Whitacre is a writer and editor in Alexandria, Virginia. Her book A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time: Julia Wilbur’s Struggle for Purpose is a biography of a Rochester-area abolitionist who worked alongside Harriet Jacobs during the Civil War and became her lifelong friend. For more information on Jacobs, Wilbur, and related topics, visit her website.

About Paula Tarnapol Whitacre

Paula Tarnapol Whitacre is a writer and editor in Alexandria, Virginia. Her book A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time: Julia Wilbur’s Struggle for Purpose is a biography of a Rochester-area abolitionist who worked alongside Harriet Jacobs during the Civil War and became her lifelong friend. For more information on Jacobs, Wilbur, and related topics, visit her website.

‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’: Harriet Jacobs in Orange County, New York (Conclusion)

January 6, 2022 by Paula Tarnapol Whitacre Leave a Comment

Gilbert Studios photograph of Harriet Jacobs 1894“The dream of my life is not yet realized…I still long for a hearthstone of my own.” (Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861).

In 1852, Harriet Jacobs became legally free, but not independent as she yearned. She continued her job as nursemaid for the family of Nathaniel Parker Willis, then editor of the trend-setting magazine Home Journal and one of the country’s most famous authors. The needs of the Willises usually took precedence over her own.

When the family moved to Cornwall, in Orange County, NY, she went too. There, in fits and starts, over the course of more than five years, she wrote the book about her life still read today – Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. [Read more…] about ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’: Harriet Jacobs in Orange County, New York (Conclusion)

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Frederick Douglass, Orange County, Publishing, Slavery, womens history

Harriet Jacobs in New York State

January 4, 2022 by Paula Tarnapol Whitacre Leave a Comment

Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl 1861“A handsome book of 306 pages, just issued, which is receiving highly commendatory notices from the press.”

So announced the abolitionist Liberator about the 1861 publication of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, a book written by Harriet Jacobs about her life in slavery and seeking freedom. Forgotten for many decades, it is one of the only known books written by an enslaved Black woman. Most of the book takes place in the coastal town of Edenton, North Carolina, where Jacobs was born in 1815.

New York State also plays a large, if lesser-known role in the life of Harriet Jacobs, who escaped to the city of New York in 1842 and lived there at two separate times. She also lived in Rochester and in Cornwall, Orange County, where she spent years writing the powerful book that is read and cherished today. [Read more…] about Harriet Jacobs in New York State

Filed Under: History, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Cornwall, Lake Ontario, Manhattan, Monroe County, New York City, Orange County, Rochester, Slavery, womens history

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