SOURCE: "'There is might in Each': Conceptions of Self in Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself" in Legacy, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1996, pp. 1-18.

In the following essay, Sorisio discusses the influence of Romanticism and Transcendentalism on the nineteenth-century's—and on Jacobs's—perception of "self," arguing that Linda Brent's sense of self encompasses both an individual and a collective identity. Additionally, Sorisio examines Jacobs's exploitation of sentimental conventions.

In 1992, archaeologists discovered an eighteenth-century slave burial ground in lower Manhattan, sparking controversy over the fate of the skeletal remains. Then-mayor David Dinkens called for construction on the site to halt, dismayed by the "highly inappropriate and insensitive" handling of the bones. However, the chief archaeologist praised the excavation: "We're picking up the pages from an 18th-century primary document and dusting them off, but as of yet, we haven't read them." The archaeologist's comparison of...