'Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl' is an autobiography by a young mother and fugitive slave Harriet Ann Jacobs. Jacobs contributed to the genre of slave narrative by using the techniques of sentimental novels 'to address race and gender issues.' She explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced on plantations as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children when their children might be sold away. Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813 - 1897) was an African-American writer who escaped from slavery and was later freed. She became an abolitionist speaker and reformer.