Reclaiming Black (Female) Subjectivity and the Othered Gaze in Harriet's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Analyzing White Representation in the Black Imagination

This essay explores the representation of whiteness and the reclamation of black (female) subjectivity in Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by a black female author during the antebellum period, Jacobs’ narrative offers a unique critique of the hegemonic power structures that defined her era. The essay examines how Jacobs uses her narrative to subvert the dominant racial and gender ideologies, presenting whiteness as the Other and reclaiming her identity and agency through the act of writing. By analyzing the text through the theoretical lenses of Slave Narrative, Feminist Discourse, and Otherism, this paper highlights the complex ways in which Jacobs negotiates her subjectivity in a society that systematically denies (her) black humanity.