Civil Disobedience in a Slave Girl (An Interlude)

Harriet Jacobs was a slave.  One cannot question the fact without questioning the validity of history's say-so in her life.  However, she kept a very specific part of her that leads me to believe, as I usually do, that slavery for Ms. Jacobs was not a simple, cut-and-dry process that stripped her of all freedoms and choice.  On the contrary, I think she rightfully tried to take what was hers already, and made the choice to not sit by and remain a slave.  Slavery, ladies and gentlemen, is both a choice and a punishment.

First...the punishment.  One does not choose to want to be a slave, certainly one does not choose to work the sugar canes, or the master's home, to be whipped and chained, to be spat on, to be berated, to be branded...none of these things we choose even at our most masochistic, at our most sadistic.  All of this is thrown upon us by the "greater" forces (i.e. the White Man) we cannot stop or hold back.  To make matters worse for Ms. Jacobs, her slavery took on different facets...it wasn't just relegated to the work.  Mr. Sands, the father of her children, is the owner of her body, whether or not she understands it or not.  Dr. Flint is the master of her living, both daily and otherwise.  His wife, Mrs. Flint, is the tormentor of her mind, there to make sure she does not rest, does not have one easy moment coming.  Slavery for her is, in a twisted, unbearable manner, the key for her survival...it is through these obstacles, these impossible No's, that Ms. Jacobs is able to confront herself and say Yes, above all things, say Yes!

But what was she saying yes to?  Her freedom?  Or something less tangible?  I believe she was saying Yes to herself, independent of her body, independent of her spirit, both in a state of broken repair, both subject to cruelty and despair.  But Ms. Jacobs took hold of her own choices, and in doing so, ceased to be a slave.  Ceased to let that be a punishment.  She was still bound to her master, still bound to the punishment, but neither he nor it could fully overcome her now, neither could claim they knew or had her in their independent (and collective) grasps.  Since she recognized herself as a human being, since she could see the paradox of being a slave and being a free thinker, it is of no great coincidence that it is in Henry David Thoreau where we can look to truly dip our hands into the waters of not only slavery in Early America, but the consequences of this barbarism on Ms. Jacobs's society then...and now.  In her way, Ms. Jacobs was a poster child for the ever-relevant Civil Disobedience.

Had Ms. Jacobs been a free woman (though she was in her mind, she remained shackled otherwise) she would have been a staunch observer and supporter of Thoreau's claim that it is in our government where we must put our faith...and yet, not the American Government, not the one established during her time, during Thoreau's time.  Being primarily an agent of corruption and injustice, this American Idea of Democracy had, for all intensive purposes, failed in promising the most important ideal for all humans on Earth: the right to reign free.  How can the government stand for something and then allow something contradictory to continue to happen?  This central contradiction is what drives Ms. Jacobs and Thoreau, what pushes them both to the boundaries of their own thinking and believing...to really take a stand and say, NO, I will not let you lead me astray.  Strong of will and strong of spirit, the both of them learned how to keep the demons at bay (whether they be your Master or Law, it doesn't matter) and fight, always FIGHT, for what was always rightfully theirs.  See, Civil Disobedience is just another phrase for Being Free.

Ms. Jacobs should be commended for keeping herself pure from the influences of the evils that tried to tie her down.  She should be commended for daring to be liberated even as a slave girl.  She should be commended, if only simply, because she deigned to be something greater than what America tried to make of her...then what she knew.