WHITE SUPREMACY AND THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM: A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF HARRIET JACOBSS INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL

This article investigates the interplay between white supremacy and African American self-determination in Harriet Jacobss Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Through a psychoanalytic lens, the study explores how Jacobs, writing under the pseudonym Linda Brent, portrays the psychological and physical trauma endured by enslaved Black women in the antebellum South. The analysis focuses on systemic racism, sexual exploitation, and the denial of legal person-hood, while also emphasizing the protagonists resilience and pursuit of freedom. Using Sigmund Freuds theory of personality, the article examines the development of Brents identity through the functions of the Id, Ego, and Superego. The narrative is situated within the broader historical context of slavery and racial segregation, and interpreted as both personal testimony and political resistance. Jacobss work illustrates how enslaved women navigated oppression through acts of motherhood, literacy, and escape. Her story affirms the importance of self-determination and challenges dominant ideologies of racial hierarchy.This study contributes to literary scholarship by demonstrating the relevance of psychoanalytic theory in interpreting trauma and resistance in slave narratives.