Twelve Years a Slave
Solomon Northup 1853
This memoir tells how a free Black man endured twelve years of slavery in Louisiana. A promised job playing violin draws him from New York to Washington, where he is kidnapped.
290 pages 5h 37m reading time
- One of the most important first-hand accounts of American slavery ever written.
- Shows that slavery's cruelty came from the system itself, not only from a few bad owners, since even the kinder masters Northup served still held him as property.
- Describes daily life on Louisiana cotton and sugar plantations in close detail, from the work and punishments to the songs and rare holidays of the enslaved people around him.
- Historians still rely on it as an unusually accurate record of plantation life, because many of its names, places, and events have been checked against public records.
- It inspired the 2013 film "12 Years a Slave," which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and brought Northup's story to millions of new readers.
Led to the kidnappers' arrest
Its details helped identify the two men who kidnapped Northup, and they were arrested, though never convicted.
Told to a writer
Northup told his story to David Wilson, a white New York lawyer, who wrote it down in about three months.
A fast seller
It sold about 30,000 copies in its first three years, a big success for its time.
Saved by a teenager
Historian Sue Eakin found a forgotten copy as a teenager and spent decades bringing it back into print.