12 Years A Slave Essay

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup is a memoir and narrative about his own life experiences of his slavery all the way to his rescue from 1841 to 1853, exactly twelve years. Northup was originally born a free man in the year 1808 to a liberated slave by the name of Mintus Northup, who was, at first, a slave to the Northup family on Rhode Island. Solomon spent most of his childhood working on a farm with his father and developed many valuable skills. He was good at farming, carpenter work, rafting and surprisingly, read, write and play the violin. This was rare for a black person in the 1800s. At the age of 21, he married a mulatto, a cook by the name of Ann Hampton and became the father of three healthy children. Northup tells the reader the amazing life of the free man with a thriving family. In 1841, two men paid Northup a visit and offered him a well paying job as a fiddle player in the circus. Without a moment’s hesitation Solomon didn’t decline and jumped on the offer. Before departure, the men told him to gather his free papers then leave for Washington D.C. The two men earned his trust, drugged Northup and kidnapped him. He woke up the next day, with shackles on his legs and wrists along with all his free papers missing. “Alone, in utter darkness, and in chains, I was able to ascertain - I had not only been robbed of liberty, but my money and free papers were also gone!” (p38). Black people were bigger targets for harassment as well as targets for deceiving than any other race. Sometimes it was possible to be born into slavery, other times it …show more content…
In Solomon’s memoir, this is clearly shown through the character Patesy .Platt worked for Epps for ten years. Epps was a sadistic man who often got drunk with abusing, humiliating and whipping his slaves daily. Patsey was one of the female slaves Epps used as a mistress in which he on multiple occasions tortured, raped and had children with.