By Alejandro Hernandez

Do you believe in monsters? Monsters come in all shapes and sizes no matter the century. In the 1800s African American slaves were introduced to these "monsters". Women were forced to do labor just like the men were, but women were victimized and raped by these monsters.

In the book, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" an autobiography written by Harriet Jacobs that was originally published in 1861, it tells the story of a females experience of slavery. The book was written to raise the awareness of the unrepresented issues of gender, motherhood, and fear of sexual assault for enslaved women. In her own words, there is "no shadow of law to protect her" from the violence and abuse of the monsters at the time. The book includes observations of cruelty to slaves in her own town and neighboring towns.

In my drawing I illustrate and include some words of the pain and suffering that these women had to experience. Women are victimized by these monsters with their actions and foul languages that corrupts their mentality and continue to affect them even after the incident. These monsters are still found in todays society where they continue to harass and violate women. The women's skin tone is not filled in to demonstrate that no matter the race, women continue to be taken advantage of no matter the century by these monsters.