Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

In the spring, Mrs. Bruce died. Mr. Bruce asked Harriet to accompany him and his daughter Mary to visit some of the late Mrs. Bruce’s relatives in England. Harriet agreed, knowing that the motherless child would be happy in her company.

In London, for the first time, Harriet “was treated according to [her] deportment, without any reference to [her] complexion” (270). In Steventon, a small, poor town in Berkshire, Harriet noticed that, even the poorest people lived in better conditions than “the most favored slaves in America” (272). People worked hard, but not at all hours and in all weather conditions. Their homes were very modest, but they were their own. No patrols came along to beat them at whim. Families sometimes separated for work, but parents knew where their children were, and they communicated by letter. Also, the government invested in schools and other welfare programs to improve their condition. Life is still very difficult for the poor in England, but it contrasts with the rosy tale that a woman named Miss Murray concocted about the conditions of the enslaved in the US.

Harriet also noticed that the Episcopal Church in Steventon did not subscribe to the hypocrisy that was prevalent in Southern Episcopal churches. The clergyman “was a true disciple of Jesus” who inspired Harriet (273).

During the ten months Harriet and the Bruces remained abroad, Harriet experienced no racism. She didn’t think about it until their return to the US.

Harriet and the Bruces arrived in New York that winter. Harriet hurried to Boston to see her children. Ellen was well and getting an education. Benny, however, had left. He had been studying a trade, well liked by his fellow apprentices. However, when they discovered that he was Black, the American and “American-born Irish” (274) apprentices were offended to work with him, calling him the n-word. Benny refused to stay and be mistreated, so he left on a whaling vessel.

Emily Flint wrote Harriet to live with her and her husband in Norfolk, Virginia. If Harriet was willing to come, Emily would permit Harriet to buy her freedom. Harriet disposed of this letter, annoyed with the Flints for mistaking her for a fool.

The Fugitive Slave Law, which would make it easier to hunt Harriet, had not yet passed.

For two years, Harriet and Ellen remained in Boston and supported themselves. Then, William offered to send Ellen to boarding school. Before Ellen left, Harriet resolved to tell Ellen about her father. Ellen assured her mother that she knew all about Mr. Sands but had no relationship with him. During the five months she had spent with him in Washington, DC, Ellen had watched him shower affection on his other daughter, Fanny, while ignoring her. Fanny’s nurse also told Ellen not to tell anyone about her paternity, so Ellen never did.

After Ellen and William departed for her new school in New York, Harriet suddenly felt overwhelmed by loneliness. She soon received a message from a woman who wanted Harriet’s services as a seamstress—the work that kept Harriet afloat before she met the late Mrs. Bruce.

William was considering starting an anti-slavery reading room in Rochester, where he could sell “some books and stationary” (279). He asked if Harriet wanted to join him in the venture. She agreed, but their business wasn’t successful. Harriet then spent a year living with abolitionists Isaac and Emily Post.

William decided to go to California and took Benny with him. Ellen became popular at school. Even when her classmates found out her history, they took great care to make her feel comfortable there.

When Harriet returned from Rochester, she went to the Bruce home to see Mary. Mr. Bruce had remarried and had another child. He asked if Harriet wanted to return to live at his home and nurse the new baby. Harriet had reservations due to the recent passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, which had emboldened Dr. Flint in his pursuit of her. The new Mrs. Bruce was an American aristocrat, but did not seem to be racist—she expressed a passionate dislike of slavery.

Harriet agreed to care for the Bruces’ new child.

Everywhere, there were stories of fugitive slaves, some with families, being carried back into slavery. Now, Harriet seldom went out. When she had an errand, she went through back streets. She talked about the dangers with Mrs. Bruce, who made arrangements for Harriet’s safety.

Mrs. Bruce decided that Harriet should take the infant to New England, assuming that Harriet was less likely to be bothered with the baby in her arms. Plus, even if she were, having the child would force the authorities to go back to the Bruce home first, which would have positioned Mrs. Bruce to protect Harriet. Harriet stayed in the home of a senator who had not voted for the law, but who was worried about harboring Harriet for too long, so he sent her to the country, where Harriet and the baby stayed for one month. When she got word that Dr. Flint had given up his pursuit of her, she returned to New York.

Occasionally, Harriet received news from her grandmother. The letters made Harriet “yearn to see her before she died,” though this was impossible now (289). Several months after she returned from New England, her grandmother wrote that Dr. Flint was dead. Martha hoped that Dr. Flint had made peace with God. Still angry at the wrongs he had committed during his life, Harriet was not sympathetic.

Dr. Flint’s death did not diminish the danger: His children could still inherit Harriet. Since Dr. Flint had not left much wealth to his heirs, Mrs. Flint declared that Emily could not to lose a slave as valuable as Harriet.

When Harriet read in the newspaper of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Dodge—Emily and her husband—she went back into exile with Mrs. Bruce’s infant. Mr. Dodge, Emily’s husband, was first a Yankee peddler, then a merchant and, later, a slaveholder. After getting introduced into Southern high society, he met Emily. Now, Dr. Flint had left him no property, and he had little money of his own.

Harriet asked a Black male friend to visit the Dodges and ask about friends of his in the South, whom the Dodges would have known. When the friend mentioned that he knew where Harriet was, Mr. Dodge repeated the same old lie—if Harriet went with them to Virginia, he would offer her a chance to buy her freedom. Harriet had decided to never pay for her freedom—it was her right to be free, not something to be purchased.

Mrs. Bruce asked Harriet to leave the city because the Bruce house was being watched. Harriet at first refused, but when she learned that the Dodges had never given up their claim to Harriet’s children, Harriet changed her mind and took the baby back to New England.

To put an end to Mr. Dodge’s search, Mrs. Bruce offered to buy Harriet’s freedom. Harriet thanked Mrs. Bruce, but chose to go to California to live with William instead. Despite her refusal, Mrs. Bruce negotiated terms with Mr. Dodge, who agreed to sell Harriet for $300. Harriet was now free.

As she rode home, Harriet was no longer afraid of anyone seeing her. Mrs. Bruce embraced Harriet and told her that, even if she chose to go to California, Mrs. Bruce wanted to ensure that Harriet was doing so as a free woman.

Grandmother Martha lived long enough to hear about Harriet’s freedom. After she died, Harriet also received an obituary notice for her Uncle Phillip from a Southern newspaper, which referred to him as “a good man and a useful citizen” (297). It was the only instance she knew of that the death of a Black person had been recorded.

Harriet ends the narrative by telling the reader that she hasn’t yet fulfilled all of her dreams. She is not in her own home with her children. However, she is happy and comfortable with Mrs. Bruce.