Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup

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Résumé :
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by Solomon Northup as told to and written by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details himself being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. He was in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before he was able to secretly get information to friends and family in New York, who in turn secured his release with the aid of the state. Northup's account provides extensive details on the slave markets in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, and describes at length cotton and sugar cultivation and slave treatment on major plantations in Louisiana. 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 won multiple Oscars including Best Picture....

Biographie:
Solomon Northrup (1807- between 1857-1864) Born to a freed black man and a free woman of colour, Solomon Northrup was a free-born African-American and an American abolitionist. He grew up in a relatively enlightened New York, which had abolished slavery in 1799. His father's freedom and successful farming business enabled Solomon and his brothers to receive an education and music lessons. He grew up to become a professional musician, specializing in playing the violin. However, Northrup's freedom was exclusive to his life in New York. It wasn't up until the end of the Civil War, in 1865, that the institution of slavery was abolished in the United States in its entirety. Northrup's freedom came to a very long, cruel, and painful pause when he was deceived into going to Washington DC on the pretext of being hired as a travelling musician. There, he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Northrup spent the next 12 years enslaved, captive, in New Orleans where he experienced inhumane conditions under a cruel planter. Solomon Northrup regained his freedom on January 3, 1853 through the help of Samuel Bass, a Canadian working on the plantation. Northrup's freedom came after a long struggle, and while justice due to him was not entirely delivered, his lived experience was revealed to the world in the form of his memoir, 12 Years A Slave....