12 Years A Slave

I had not then learned the measure of “man’s inhumanity to man,” nor to what limitless extent of wickedness he will go for the love of gain, that was until I read this gripping heartfelt novel. A memoir of Solomon Northup, a father, a skilful violinist, a FREE man. I make emphasis on the word ‘free,’ for it was only ever men born fugitives that remained enslaved for the rest of their lives.

Northup was a respected high class man in society; he was wrongly lured by a job opportunity into the slave trade by two men who drugged him after he agreed to travel to Washington Dc with them. They then proceeded to steal his free papers; this resulted in Solomon being wrongly enslaved for 12 years without contact to any of his family members. As he was a slave he had to hide all his talents, the only thing they couldn't take away was his freedom to express his feelings on paper. That was his only freedom- he embraced it by writing a diary. A diary that bore witness to the white supremacy of America in the 1850's. A black woman beaten up because she cried after she was split up from her children. Being looked down upon and being set menial, laborious tasks just because you were born with the 'wrong colour skin.' Solomon witnessed the untimely deaths of his fellow slaves. The white men who actually cared actually tried to do something but their hands were tied because of the unjust law at the time. This story however is invaluable to historians in the modern ages as it is considered biased for it is one sided against the white dominance. 

This is not just a book, this is the story of a man’s journey to freedom. 12 years expressed in 250 pages. I recommend it to anyone especially people who are interested in the American apartheid- the racial divide. This is the diary that provided Solomon with his key to freedom, the regain of his life and position in society. 

By Lucy