Freedom Roads:
North Carolina’s Underground
Railroad Network to Freedom
Activity Guide
Seven Years in Hiding: The Escape of Harriet Jacobs
Overview
In this activity, students will explore the amazing story of Harriet Ann Jacobs, an
enslaved woman in Edenton, North Carolina who escaped north and became an antislavery activist and abolitionist author. This activity focuses on how Jacobs used stealth
and cunning and an incredible amount of patience to accomplish her escape.
Activity Goals
Upon completion of this activity, students will be able to:
• understand what a primary source is and how to analyze it
• summarize the escape story of Harriet Jacobs
• understand and describe the Maritime Underground Railroad
Grade Level
Created primarily for 8th grade, this activity can be adapted for higher grade levels.
Common Core and Essential Standards
8.H.1.2 – Summarize the literal meaning of historical documents in order to establish
context.
8.H.1.3 – Use primary and secondary sources to interpret various historical
perspectives.
Classroom Activity:
Students will need access to the internet to complete this activity, or teachers can copy
select pages from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl for students to read and analyze.
This activity can be done in the classroom in groups, or independently, or as
homework.
In preparation for this activity, have students read:
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Article - Reading Primary Sources: An Introduction for Students by Kathryn
Walbert at http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/thinking-guide-slavenarrative/745
Article - Escape to Freedom: The Life of Harriet Jacobs of Edenton at
http://civilwarexperience.ncdcr.gov/iredell/narrative-edenton.htm
Conduct a classroom discussion describing primary sources and instructing how
to use them for historical research.
1.
Have students access Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl on the website,
Documenting the American South at:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/jacobs.html
2.
Students should study the cover, spine, title page, preface by the author, and
introduction by the editor. Using the Primary Source Analysis Worksheet (based
on the Walbert article above), have students begin completing the first two
sections on identifying and contextualizing the resource.
3. Focusing on the escape sections of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, have
students read the following chapters of Harriet’s story: The Flight, Months of Peril,
New Perils, The Loophole of Retreat, Still in Prison, Competition in Cunning,
Preparations for Escape, Northward Bound. Students should complete the
remaining sections of the worksheet after reading these excerpts.
4. Conduct a classroom discussion reviewing the Primary Source Analysis
Worksheet.
5. Conduct a discussion on what sorts of information someone 150 years from now
would examine to discover facts about our current time. What are the primary
sources that we are creating today?
Closure
Have students write an essay about the portion of Harriet Jacobs’ escape story
that was most compelling for them. Have students share their stories with the
class.
Assessment
Have students answer the following questions:
1. Describe Harriet’s initial escape and the immediate search that
followed. She first ran to her grandmother’s and had “Sally” hide Harriet’s
clothes so it would look like she had taken all her belongings with her. Then
she ran to the house of a friend who had offered her a place to hide. Norcom
had the grandmother’s house searched and discovered Harriet’s clothes
missing. Assuming Harriet would attempt to escape the area, every ship
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headed north was searched. The law against harboring or aiding the escape of
fugitives was read to all onboard northbound ships and a night’s watch was
placed over the town.
2. Where did Harriet hide? Describe her hiding place. After hiding at a
friend’s house and then in the “Snaky Swamp,” Harriet hid in a small attic
space over a storeroom that had been added to her grandmother’s house. It
was 9 feet long, and 7 feet wide with a sloping roof that was only 3 feet tall at
its highest part. There was no light or air circulation. It was cold in the
winter and stifling hot in the summer and was infested with rats and mice.
3. Harriet wrote in her autobiography, “Who can blame slaves for
being cunning? They are constantly compelled to resort to it. It is
the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of
their tyrants.” Describe instances of her ability to outwit Norcom.
She had “Sally” hide her clothes so it would look like she had taken all her
belongings with her. She dressed as a sailor in order to disguise herself as she
walked down the street. She wrote letters that she arranged to be mailed from
the North so that it would appear that she was there. She managed to hide for
almost seven years in a tiny space that was sometimes directly over Norcom’s
head when he visited her grandmother.
4. Describe how Edenton’s African American community, both free
and enslaved, helped Harriet escape to freedom. Harriet describes a
number of enslaved people who helped her hide initially. “Sally,” “Betty,”
and her grandmother were instrumental in keeping her whereabouts secret.
With the aid of “Peter,” a young black man who had been an apprentice to her
father, and her “Uncle Phillip,” Harriet was able to board a northbound ship.
“Peter” made arrangements so he must have had connections at the docks. He
inquired until he found a captain willing to transport a fugitive. It was a very
risky endeavor for all involved.
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