A woman's place: The politics of space in Harriet Jacobs's<i>incidents in the life of a stave girl</i>

Wesley, Marilyn C.

doi:10.1080/00497878.1997.9979150

Cited by 21 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Given literacy's central role in antebellum slave narratives 3 , most scholarly studies have focused mainly on this particular facet and other areas of strong interest such as language and the genre's episodic pattern. More recent studies (Wesley, 1999;Cox, 2005;Stover, 2008;Smith, 2009) have suggested that the slaves' flight towards the North may be more than a mere "journey toward freedom: a break away from the enslavement of one society and the break into the 'better day' of another" (Smith 1974:13). They are, rather, a crucial necessity for the author's spiritual and textual development.…”

Section: Antebellum and Postbellum Slave Narratives As Travel Booksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, movement has (re)defined the lives of African Americans and continues to do so. Berlin's study constitutes the culmination of a series of critical approaches which in recent years several scholars (Wesley, 1999;Cox, 2005;Stover, 2008;Smith, 2009) have undertaken in order to reassess the role of slave testimony. Thus, these critics have moved beyond describing slave stories as autobiographical texts and political manifestos, and have started studying them as travel narratives.…”

Section: America Nation Of Travellersmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Former Slaves on the Move: The Plantation Household, the White House, and the Postwar South as Spaces of Transit in Elizabeth Keckley’s Behind the Scenes

Pahissa¹

2012

RAEI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Travel writing has been central to the American literary canon. From all possible backgrounds, origins and spaces, religious dissenters, immigrants and others have described their travelling experiences in North America. Within this profoundly American tradition, black Americans' narratives are a special case. Most scholars agree that their personal accounts are not only autobiographical texts and political manifestos, but also travel narratives. Thus, the slaves' journey is interpreted both as a physical experience-from the plantation to a free state-and a spiritual one-from ignorance into knowledge. After Emancipation, former slaves continued publishing their life experiences, and African American women became significantly active in autobiographical writing. These women challenged previous roles, and reinterpreted themselves as independent middle class entrepreneurs. Such is the case of the author analyzed in the present article: Elizabeth Keckley. Her journey from the plantation to Washington D.C. becomes an overt challenges to the racial and gender restrictions imposed upon her and gives wings to her desire for independence. Above all, the locations she inhabits while transiting from enslavement to middle class entrepreneurship inform this crucial transformation. By means of her transit, Keckley discovers her identity not only as female member of an oppressed race, but also as an individual who can achieve and prosper beyond the barriers imposed by (white and black) male society.

show abstract

Section: Antebellum and Postbellum Slave Narratives As Travel Booksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: America Nation Of Travellersmentioning

confidence: 99%