Has society treated men and women equally over the years? During the most inhumane, barbaric and sadistic period in history, women seem to be mistreated to a greater extent. For many years, women were not only considered the weaker sex but also repressed and dehumanized by the male-dominated society. As terrible as the Holocaust, which persecuted and killed millions of Jews and other groups deemed undesirable, was the impact of slavery on American slaves. Slavery and male dominant society occurred simultaneously; therefore, women were twice discriminated against, abused and mistreated. There are multiple indirect and direct records of the suffering women went through during this horrible and sad time in history. “Accidents in the Life of a Slave” by Harriet Jacobs appears to be a vivid account of the incidents in the life of Jacobs, an unfortunate girl who tragically lost her parents as a child and discovered that she was a slave. Referring to the terrible condition of slavery, he writes: “You never knew what it was to be a slave; be completely unprotected by law or custom; that the laws reduce you to the condition of a chattel, entirely subject to the will of another. (49)Perhaps the most heartbreaking sensation in the lives of slaves was the fact that they were separated from their children by the will of their masters. Not being able to raise one's children was a hundred times more painful than cutting off their heels to prevent them from escaping their masters. Jacob's grandmother experienced this horrible consequence of slavery when her master died and her five children were divided among the master's heirs. (9) How painful it must have been for Jacob's mother to see her children divided as if they were... in the middle of a sheet of paper... a hardship, they had built a comfortable home for themselves, they were forced to sacrifice their furniture, saying hasty farewells to friends and seeking fortune among strangers in Canada. Many wives discovered a secret they had never known before: that her husband was a fugitive and had to leave her to ensure his own safety. Worse, many husbands discovered that their wives had escaped from slavery years before, and since “the child follows the condition of his mother,” the children of his love could be seized and taken into slavery” (155). , pain and shame are projected throughout the book of Jacob which covers not only his life but also the common misfortune of many victims of slavery. Undoubtedly, slave women were repeatedly abused, discriminated against and harassed not only by society but also by sadistic masters, becoming the most mistreated in a slave society..