Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup Book Review

📌Category: Books
📌Words: 584
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 18 January 2022

Based on the 1853 memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, composed by Solomon Northup. Northup, a free black man from New York, describes how he was conned into commuting to Washington, D.C. abducted and sold into slavery in the Deep South. He was held in Louisiana for 12 years before discreetly passing information to friends and family in New York, who could release with the help of the state. 12-Years A Slave was released; November 08, 2013, directed by Steve McQueen. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfre Woodard, and Brad Pitt, with so many others. To depict the brutal and dangerous life African Americans were suffering during that time.

In 1841, Solomon Northup lived as a free African American man working as a violinist in Saratoga Springs, New York, among his wife and two children. Brown and Hamilton, two white men, offer him a short-term job as a musician if he accompanies them to Washington, D.C. Once there, they dose Northup and bring him to a slave prison managed by Burch. Northup declares himself a free man only to be beaten mercilessly. Others warn him that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt to life as a slave and not reveal his identity. Passing the year, for every Northup would take the opportunity to explain he was a free man, people would refuse to help him because they were terrified of the risks. Until one day, he began working with Canadian labor named Samuel Bass. He reveals and explains all that occur to him in Washington DC. Northup requests assistance in sending a letter to New York to earn his freedom. 

In the 1850s, there were tensions between states on the matter of slavery. The North believed that slavery was illegal and inhumane, while the Southern states wanted to continue owning slaves, which led to the civil war. Slaves were treated inhumanely; slaves beat them no matter their age. No one could escape the brutal behavior walking down the street. Everyone had to be careful in looking at a white female or male; they were always racially profiled and accused of deeds they did not do. In the movie, we see a great example when North up is almost killed. Tibeats and his gang attempt to lynch Northup, but the plantation overseer intervenes. Northup is put on tiptoes for hours with the rope around his neck before Ford arrives and executes him. What right did this man have to take someone's life? Just because he owned him, he chose to kill him! Northup, like many others during that time, had a constant war with their owners. That is why many slaves did not know how to read or write. If their owners were to see that they were becoming successful and more intelligent, they might decide to run away one day. The owners would do anything in their power, including killing a man to stay in slavery. 

It is heartbreaking to see that many still believe that slavery should continue and that the states should be divided. How can someone put their greed and wealth before others? Are we not all the same? In 2020 we saw a movement rising because of the death of George Floyd. Thousands of people were taking the streets claiming justice for this man and his family while others were rioting that what the police officers did which justice for a "savage man" like him. We saw the division of the states when George Biden and Donald Trump were running for the presidency. We have seen the violence on live television of Trump supporters at the Capitol on January 06. Our history comes back to haunt us; a white and black cannot sit at the same table.

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