Product Description
Northup’s only written work is his autobiography,
Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York,
Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton
Plantation Near the Red River, in Louisiana (1853) Northup’s slave narrative,
the tale of a free African American man who is kidnapped, sold into slavery, and
lives as a slave for twelve years, was not only a best seller for its genre and
time, it was revolutionary. Twelve Years a Slave is praised for its meticulous
examination of slavery and plantation society, especially against the contrast
to his previous life as a musician and citizen of New York. Northup’s story has
also been cited as representative of slavery’s horrors and has been used to
support the depictions in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Northup’s
narrative is valuable for the accurate description of his experiences and
defines many of the slave experiences that are known.
I was ambivalent about reading this and am still not
sure that I could watch the film, but I found it a gripping, well written
account. Initially I had to get used to the rather formal language because it
was written and published in 1853, however, that did not detract from the
quality or content of the book and the style was more contemporary than many
written in that era.
Solomon Northup was born in Minerva, New York in
July 1808, to a liberated slave and his wife. Northup is a free man and
brilliant musician. In 1841 he has an encounter outside Washington DC with two
men "Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton”. They drug and kidnap him and sell him
into slavery. He is sold to the notorious Washington-based slave trader James H.
Burch, who brutally whips him for protesting that he is a free man. From there
he ends up deep in Louisiana where he spends the next 12 years of his life until
rescued by a prominent citizen of his home state who knew him.
From the narrative, Solomon Northup comes across as
an intelligent, cultured, caring man of integrity. In contrast, many of the
slave owners were despicable, brutish, ignorant thugs. Not all - Northup
describes some slave owners who were loved and respected. Of his first master,
William Ford, Northrup says, ‘In my opinion, there never was a more kind,
noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford.
The influences and associations that had always
surrounded him blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of
slavery. He never doubted the moral right of one man holding another in
subjection’.
Unfortunately after being in that household where he
was treated well, due to his owner William Ford’s financial difficulties,
Northup was sold on to a couple of vicious, vindictive masters whose cruelty is
beyond belief. First to John Tibeats who Northup describes as a ‘small,
crabbed, quick-tempered spiteful man’ and then to Edwin Epps who he refers to as
"repulsive and coarse” and describes as being devoid of any redeeming qualities
"and never enjoying the advantages of an education". Northup spent most of his
captivity as a slave on the cotton plantation of this drunken, vicious oaf Edwin
Epps who used the whip and abuse his slaves savagely and freely.
Northup comments, ‘The effects of these exhibitions
of brutality on the household of the slave holder, is apparent. Epps' oldest son
is an intelligent lad of 10 or 12 years of age. It is pitiable, sometimes, to
see him chastising, for instance, the venerable Uncle Abram. He will call the
old man to account, and if in his childish judgement it is necessary, sentence
him to a certain number of lashes, which he proceeds to inflict with much
gravity and deliberation. Mounted on his pony, he often rides into the field
with his whip, playing the overseer, greatly to his father’s
delight.
This was a very interesting, thought provoking
insight into on the one hand, man’s inhumanity to man and on the other, man’s
resilience and ability to survive and even find moments of pleasure despite
horrendous living conditions and desperate circumstances.
The story of Northup’s eventual rescue and release
was full of suspense and it was such a relief when he was eventually reunited
with his wife, children and family - although his mother had died whilst he was
in captivity.
The sad thing for Northup and the reader was the
knowledge that the rest of the slaves had no such happy ending to look forward
to.
Subsequently, Northup became an advocate for
abolitionism and in the 1860s began helping fugitive slaves via the Underground
Railroad. It is believed that he died sometime between 1863 and 1875 but both
the date and circumstances of his death are unknown.
Northup's book only re-emerged in the 1960s after
being rediscovered by two Louisiana historians. It’s an excellent read and a
very valuable historical account. There is further information available on
line.
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