Synopsis
The play begins with Jacobs's decision
to run away after she learns that her master,
Dr. Norcom, plans to send her children, Louisa
and Joseph, to work on his son's plantation. Dr.
Norcom launches a frantic search for her, vowing
that she and her children will be slaves for the
rest of their lives. Jacobs's white lover, Sawyer,
sends a speculator to Dr. Norcom to purchase her
two children, and Dr. Norcom sells them without
knowing for whom the speculator is working. Secure
in the 
belief
that her children are at least safe, Jacobs spends
the next seven years of her life hidden in a crawl
space not much bigger than a coffin over a storeroom
in her grandmother's house. She finally reaches
New York City, destitute and crippled, in 1842.
Her narration really begins at this
point, frequently flashing backward in time. Jacobs
arrives in New York City, then makes her way to
Brooklyn, where she receives a warm welcome from
other fugitives from her hometown who have made
their way north. She is also reunited with her
daughter, Louisa, who is now living with Sawyer's
cousin, Mrs. Treadwell. Although Jacobs is not
happy with Louisa's appearance, she still trusts
that Sawyer has kept his promise to free Louisa
and Joseph. She flashes back to the moment when
Sawyer agreed to this arrangement. Mrs. Treadwell
announces that Sawyer has given Louisa to her
eldest daughter, announcing that she'll make a
nice waiting maid for her daughter when she grows
up. Jacobs tries to raise the issue of Louisa's
parentage, but Mrs. Treadwell silences her and
issues a veiled threat: "You have nothing to fear
from me, as long as you know your place." Jacobs
realizes that she has been betrayed by Sawyer
after all: "What tortured me most was the thought
that my sweet little girl would have to endure
the violations of a slave when she became a young
woman."
For Jacobs, this is the heart of
the matter and the deepest meaning of slavery
for a woman. Through flashbacks, she recounts
Mrs. Norcom's 
jealousy
and rage, and Dr. Norcom's constant efforts to
force her to submit sexually to him. Jacobs writes
a letter to Dr. Norcom, requesting the terms of
sale for her children. She also secures a job
working for Mrs. Willis. In the meantime, she
describes how the passage of the 1850 Fugitive
Slave Act brings down a reign of terror upon the
black community in the north. Dr. Norcom issues
a wanted poster for Jacobs. In another flashback,
Jacobs recalls her discussion with her grandmother
about her relationship with Sawyer. In the last
letter Jacobs receives from her grandmother, she
learns that Dr. Norcom has died. His family has
been left in poor financial circumstances, however,
and Dr. Norcom's widow sends her son-in-law to
New York to pursue Jacobs. Jacobs reveals the
truth about her past to Mrs. Willis, who arranges
for her to flee to Massachusetts. Mrs. Willis
initially tries to fend off the son-in-law, then
decides to purchase Jacobs from him if he will
relinquish all claims to her and her children.
Jacobs receives the bill of sale through the mail
in Massachusetts and begins to "feel the insecurity
and fear lifting off my shoulders." She decides
to write her story "so people can't say it never
was." -James A. Miller
Photograph courtesy of Norcom
Family Papers, North Carolina State University
Archives
Handbill courtesy of the Bostonian
Society
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