Harriet Jacobs and African American Women’s Mutual Support

Abstract

ABSTRACT Letters from a private collection, written by Louisa Jacobs, daughter of Harriet Jacobs, to Eugenie Webb between 1879 and 1911, supplemented by correspondence to and from associates including Harriet Ann Purvis, shed light on African American life in the post-Reconstruction era, especially on the personal and professional lives of single women working as teachers, civil service employees, boardinghouse keepers, and caregivers in Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; and Camden, NJ. Editor Mary Maillard's extensive biographical and historical notes provide valuable context for the letters, but her introductory account of prior relationships among the correspondents sometimes claims longer and stronger connections between Harriet and Louisa Jacobs and members of the established African American community in Philadelphia than available evidence seems to support. Nevertheless, the volume expands knowledge of the Jacobs' lives and of African American life during the late nineteenth century, and it provides an engaging account of the correspondents' struggles and mutual support.