Twelve Years a Slave

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Twelve Years a Slave is the written work of Solomon Northup; a man who was born free, but was bound into slavery later in life. The book, which was originally published in 1853, tells the story of how two men approached him under the guise of circus promoters who were interested in his violin skills. They offered him a substantial amount of money to work for their circus, and then offered to put him up in a hotel in Washington D.C.. Upon arriving there he was drugged, bound, and moved to Louisiana where his life as a slave would begin. Once in Louisiana he was given to a man named James Birch. Birch would coerce Solomon into making up a new past for himself, one in which he had been born as a slave. Birch told Solomon that if he were ever to reveal his true past to another person he would be killed.

The book goes on to explore the different kind of owners that Solomon would have throughout his twelve years as a slave. Some he described as kind to their slaves, and having respect for them he worked harder under them, although he never revealed his true past to any of them. Other owners he described as being callous and hard to their slaves, and under one such owner Solomon resisted a whipping and was nearly killed for it.

Finally the book discusses how Solomon eventually ended up winning his freedom back. A white man from Canada named Bass arrived to do some work for Solomon’s current owner and after conversing with him, Solomon realized that Bass was quite different from the other white men he had met in the south. It was to Bass that Solomon finally confided his story to, and ultimately Bass would deliver the letters back to Solomon’s wife that would start the legal process of earning him his freedom back.