The Breakfast Club - IDKMYDE: Harriott Jacobs

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

On this episode of #IDKMYDE, we're diving into Black history and introducing you to a remarkable woman you might not know about – Harriet Jacobs. Yep, move over Harriet Tubman and Harriet Winslow, 'cause there's a new Harriet in town!  Tune in to learn more about this incredible woman's legacy! IG: @_idkmyde_ | @BdahtTV | @blackeffectSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. We need help! That's Escape from Z-A- Stan on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you think of black history and Harriet, you think of two women. I know Harriet Tubman and Harriet Winslow from family matters on today's

episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. I introduce you to Harriet Jacobs Harriet Jacobs lived to be 84 years old born in Edenton North Carolina now Harriet, born in Edenton, North Carolina. Now, Harriet was born in 1813, but by 1825, her owner had died. But in the will, she had been willed off to the three-year-old niece, but a three-year-old can't really do much with a 12-year-old. So her daddy, Dr. James Norcombe, was the de facto master. By the time Harriet was 15, her owner, Norcombe, starts making his wife jealous. Why? Because, of course, he's flirting with Harriet.

But Harriet fell in love with a free black man who wanted to pay for her freedom. Can you believe her owner, Norcom, forbade her from fraternizing with a free black man? Yeah, you probably can't believe that. So introduce Samuel Sawyer. He was a white man, an elitist. He fathered her only two kids. And when she got pregnant, Ms. Norcom kicked Harriet out and Harriet went to go live with her granny, Molly. Harriet decided she was going to

escape. She was first aided by a white woman who was a slave owner of her damsel. Then she hid in a swamp near town. Eventually, she found this tiny crawl space right above the roof at her granny house. It was nine feet by seven feet, and it was three feet at its highest point. Like she legit could not stand up in this joint. Man, Norcom was so mad when he couldn't find her, he sold her kids and her brother to slave traders and demanded that the slave traders

sell them in different states so they could never find each other again. But he didn't know that the slave traders were secretly in cahoots with Sawyer, and he bought all three of them. Boy, that had Norcom hottest fish grease. By 1842, Harry was 29, and she escaped to Philly. She lived in that 9'7 space for seven years.

In Philadelphia, she met Mary and Nathaniel Willis, and that's when her life changed. They hired her no experience to be the nanny. Those two families were locked in from 1842 to 1917. Now, by 1843, Harriet had to dip. Why? Her location had been compromised. And Master Norcom was on his way to force her back into slavery.

Two years later, Mary Willis dies. And Nathaniel Willis and baby Emma Jean go on a 10 month visit to England to visit her family. And they take Harriet Jacobs with them. In England, Harriet saw an entirely different life. There was no racism. She never forgot that. By 1850, she was visiting Nathaniel and Emma Jean and his new wife. And the new wife asked, would Harriet be the nanny?

But now the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 had been passed, so it was a lot more risk involved. And sure enough, Master Norcombe popped up on the scene again and Harriet had to make a run for it. But this time, the new wife, Cornelia Willis, sent Harriet to Massachusetts with her one-year-old daughter, Lillian. And Harriet told Cornelia how dangerous it was out there, with constant danger for herself and other enslaved black women who'd been separated from their children. But that white woman was smart. She told Harriet,

listen, if you should happen to get called Harriet, they're gonna have to return that baby to the mother. And the moment they return her, I'm gonna save you, Harriet. You have my word. That was in 1852. Nine years later, 1861, under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Harriet Jacobs wrote the American classic, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In this book, she talks about how

she finally gets her freedom purchased and how she reunites with her family. So from this day forth, when we're talking black history, there's a third Harriet that we'll put in the conversation. Harriet Tubman, Harriet Winslow and Harriet Jacobs. I didn't know. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete.

Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakatistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q Estan. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.