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12 Years A Slave: A True Story
- ASIN : 8175994479
- Publisher : Fingerprint! Publishing (7 May 2017)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9788175994478
- ISBN-13 : 978-8175994478
- Item Weight : 200 g
- Dimensions : 20 x 14 x 4 cm
Solomon Northup’s autobiography, Twelve Years A Slave, details his life after he was kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War.
Why had I not died in my young years - before God had given me children to love and live for?
What unhappiness and suffering and sorrow it would have prevented. I sighed for liberty; but the bondsman's chain was round me, and could not be shaken off
And What Difference is There in the Colour of the Soul?
A hardworking farmer and an exceptional fiddler, Solomon Northup is born a free man of colour. He lives happily with his wife and children in Saratoga County, New York, until the day an employment offer at a circus changes his life. Tricked, drugged and kidnapped, Northup gets sold as a slave. And for the twelve years that follow, he lives in bondage under different masters.
This moving and utterly brutal book is a harrowing account of his life in the sugar and cotton plantations of Louisiana, subject to varying degrees of savagery and abuse by a series of owners. Against all odds, Northup eventually manages to get word to his family – and the ensuing rescue from the drunken and sadistic Mr Epps and subsequent legal cases are no less shocking than the rest of the tale.
A heart-rending memoir chronicling his fight for survival and freedom, Northup’s Twelve Years A Slave is one of the best slave narratives ever written. It was adapted into a historical drama film of the same name in 2013, which went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
First published in 1853, this extraordinary true story proved to be a powerful voice in the debate over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. It is a testament to one man's courage and conviction in the face of unfathomable injustice and brutality: it's influence on the course of American history cannot be overstated.
