Short essays on Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglass

By Lee A. Zito 1.Harriet Jacobs pulished under the psuedonym, Linda Brent. With pseudonyms she was able to protect herself, and the people within her book. If she had used her real name, it might have caused a huge controversy during the period in which she wrote. Jacobs had many anxieties on publishing her story. First of all her story was very personal, sharing your personal life with the masses can be very nerve wrecking. …

…borrowed and modified some of Douglass' conventions in her story, she does this to include to women as well. Jacobs, having a double predjudice against her, not only talks to African Americans, but women as well. This is her auidence, while Douglass' audience was primarily African American men. Jacobs' concerns include the treatment of African Americans as well as women in general, differing slightly from Douglass' concerns of mainly the treatment of African American men.