2010 reprint of 1855 edition. Twelve Years a Slave was written by Solomon Northup; a man who was born free but was bound into slavery later in life. The book, 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 generous but fair 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 a slave pen in the city, after which he was sold. Northup's account describes the daily life of slaves in the American South during the period just before the civil war. He provides detailed accounts of their diet, the relationship between the master and slave, the means that slave catchers used to recapture them and the ugly realities that slaves suffered. Northup's slave narrative is comparable to that of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs or William Wells Brown, and there are many similarities. Northup's also provides an extremely detailed description of Washington in 1841.
Sprache
Produkt-Hinweis
Broschur/Paperback
Klebebindung
Illustrationen
Maße
Höhe: 246 mm
Breite: 189 mm
Dicke: 11 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-57898-989-8 (9781578989898)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Solomon Northup was born a free man in Saratogo Springs, New York in 1808. His father, Mintus, had been a slave in his early life in service to the Northup family. When Mintus' master, Captain Henry Northup freed him in 1797, Mintus took the surname Northup as his own. Mintus was successful as a free man, meeting New York State's property requirements for black male voters, and was one of the few African-American's eligible to vote. Also, his children received a level of education that was considered high for blacks at that time.
On Christmas Day of 1829, Solomon married Anne Hampton. Solomon held many jobs to provide for his wife and three children. He owned a farm, played the violin in upscale hotels, and worked as a carpenter. In 1841, Solomon met two men who offered him employment as a fiddler for several performances in New York City. Solomon was then persuaded to travel to Washington d.c., where slavery was legal. When they arrived, Solomon was drugged, beaten, and placed on a ship to New Orleans where he was sold to William Ford. Solomon worked for two other owners, before he was sold to Edwin Epps. Here, Solomon toiled for ten years on a cotton plantation under the cruelty of Epps' whip.
