Solomon Northup
Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup
eBook
(DIGITAL FIRE Jan. 28, 1859)
, 1st Edition
"This remarkable story follows Northup through his 12 years of bondage as a man kidnapped into slavery, enduring the hardships of slave life in Louisiana. -Stolen into Slavery (2012)
"The basis for the film of the same name, Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup’s heartrending chronicle of injustice and brutality." -Voices of Freedom (2017)
A memoir by Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. It is a slave narrative of a black man who was born free in New York state but kidnapped in Washington, D.C., sold into slavery, and kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. He provided details of slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, as well as describing at length cotton and sugar cultivation on major plantations in Louisiana.
The work was published soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel about slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) to which it gave factual support. Northup's book of 1853 sold 30,000 copies and was considered a bestseller.
After being published in several editions in the 19th century, the book fell into obscurity for nearly 100 years, until it was re-discovered on separate occasions by two Louisiana historians, Sue Eakin (Louisiana State University at Alexandria) and Joseph Logsdon (University of New Orleans). In the early 1960s, they researched and retraced Solomon Northup’s journey and co-edited a historically annotated version that was published by LSU Press in 1968. More recently, a critically acclaimed feature film, 12 Years a Slave (2013) directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup was released.
"The basis for the film of the same name, Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup’s heartrending chronicle of injustice and brutality." -Voices of Freedom (2017)
A memoir by Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. It is a slave narrative of a black man who was born free in New York state but kidnapped in Washington, D.C., sold into slavery, and kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. He provided details of slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, as well as describing at length cotton and sugar cultivation on major plantations in Louisiana.
The work was published soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel about slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) to which it gave factual support. Northup's book of 1853 sold 30,000 copies and was considered a bestseller.
After being published in several editions in the 19th century, the book fell into obscurity for nearly 100 years, until it was re-discovered on separate occasions by two Louisiana historians, Sue Eakin (Louisiana State University at Alexandria) and Joseph Logsdon (University of New Orleans). In the early 1960s, they researched and retraced Solomon Northup’s journey and co-edited a historically annotated version that was published by LSU Press in 1968. More recently, a critically acclaimed feature film, 12 Years a Slave (2013) directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup was released.
- Pages
- 106
Enjoy reading Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup? You may also like these books
-
Solomon Northup
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
Paperback (Forgotten Books Jan. 27, 2019)
