Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813 - March 7, 1897) was an American abolitionist and writer. She is best-known as the writer of the 1861 book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published under the pseudonym Linda Brent. She was one of many escaped slaves who wrote autobiographical narratives in an effort to shape opinion in the Northern United States on the "peculiar institution" of slavery.