...survives the darkness of loosing everything. This book was called 12 years a slave by Solomon Northup. This book is an auto biography about a part of his life when he had to fight for his given freedom by law. This story is an auto biography because it’s a true story that is written by he (Solomon Northup) I could say that this book attracted me because it looked so amazing I couldn't wait to read it. But no the reality of it was i hated reading i picked it because i saw it had a tag on it now a major motion picture. I thought “oh perfect i can just watch the movie for my oral book talk” i did not even think i was going to read it. How i read it was a got a sight of pure bordom in a long drive to my grandmothers and it was only me and the book. I picked it up and read the first few pages and those few pages turned in to many. I couldent stop reading it, the book was glorius . His way of using casual words and turning them into deep words that make you undersatnd ever emotion he was feeling, every thought i could hear. Surprisingly i never watched the movie and i may never becuase the book satisfied wih just reading....
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...In the book 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup describes his experience in slavery. Solomon was born a free man. He lived in New York with his wife and three children. In March of 1841 Solomon was kidnapped and sold to a slave trader named James H. Burch. Burch brutally beats Solomon for stating that he is a free man. Solomon was sold into slavery and remained a slave in the Deep South for twelve years. He worked hard to refrain from being wiped by his masters. Solomon came across a man named Bass from Canada. Bass assisted him in gaining his freedom by sending a letter for help. He finally regained his freedom and was reunited with his family in 1853. Solomon Northup shares his interesting story by informing the reader the truth about slavery. Some individuals may believe that Solomon’s story is exaggerated, the reader can use the evidence in the book to determine their own opinion. Solomon does not comment on his views on slavery. He feels that others are entitled to develop their own views by the details in this story. It is important for the reader to take into consideration his time as a free man. This gives the reader an opportunity to recognize his appreciation to freedom....
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...Solomon Northup Solomon Northup, were a free black man who lived with his wife and two children and were very famous for how good he were at playing violin. He then gets kidnapped by James Burch and sold into slavery. Solomon or Platt as he gets called by the slavers, will do anything to survive, and he won’t give up before he’s getting released “But I don’t want to survive. I want to live” . He do what he is told to do, and he works a lot and also hard. He is very strong psychical, and he is smart. When the slaves including Solomon arrived at the first farm, kept Solomon speaking about his life a freeman and he was a famous artist. The slavers wanted to erase his past, so they changed his name from Solomon Northup, to Platt. The first plantation with the owner Ford, were almost a “pleasure” for Platt, because Ford were known to treat his slaves well. But because of some problem with the economy, Platt had to be sold, and so did he. He were sold to John Tibeats, a man who were known to be cruel against his slaves. - Mr. Ford Under the circumstances he’s a respectful slaver. He treats his slaves with kindness and respect. Unfortunately his accompanied with a strict overseer with a bad temper. After an incident with the unfair overseer, Solomon is forced to transfer to the horrid slaver Mr. Epps. - Mr. Epps - Mrs. Epps A very cruel slaver, who treats his slaves like they’re not human beings. He believes that comparing a white man and a black man would be the same...
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...they claimed that slaves up North were free, they could easily take their freedom away and there was nothing anybody could do about. The book shows an accurate representation of the common slave experience in the United States in the South before Civil War. In “12 Years a Slave” the story takes off Solomon Northup explaining what his life was like being a free man in Minerva, New York This story takes place in 1808. His father was named Mintus, who was enslaved to the Northup family in Rhode Island. He was then freed after the Northups’ made a move to New York. While growing up Solomon helped his father with chores such as farming and worked as a raftsman on the waterways of New York. Solomon was...
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...12 Years a Slave | Dr. Autry | Khristopher Foreman | It was a Friday night at the Lockhart where they had Black Film Festival, where they were showing the movie “12 Years a Slave”. They were serving free popcorn and a soda for the first 100 people. They showed the movie on this gigantic screen with surround sound. The movie was about a black man in the 1840’s named Solomon Northup, who lives as a free man in Saratoga, New York with his wife and two children. He earns a living as a violinist, on what he believes will be an out of town music gig. He is instead drugged and sold into slavery in the Deep South under the name Platt as that is for whom the slave trader has papers. Initially, incredulous to his plight, he decides that cooperation is the best way to survive. He sees few others in the same situation as him, but slowly he is separated from those with who he has built support. This process continues over his life as a slave, as he is at the mercy of whomever his master at the time and his master's associates who work on their own priorities. He finds that cooperation generally gets one nowhere and sometimes can get one into further trouble due to jealousy. At times, he cannot take the emotional abuse, his actions which lead to physical abuse. There are also times where he thinks he can trust someone to get himself out of his plight only to be turned upon instead. But as bad as his situation is, he finds that others are in much more dire straits, they will do anything...
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...Solomon Northup, born as a free man to an emancipated slave, recalls his accounts of being sold into slavery and the torturous life he lived, in the autobiography 12 Years a Slave. Solomon lived in upper New York where he married a woman and began his family. Solomon was a talented fiddle player. Two con men offered him work in the circus playing the fiddle. They rejoiced at his skills; however, they took him to a restaurant, drugged him and then sold him into the deep south. For 12 years he was a slave named Platt. He started on a plantation where he was close to the end as he was almost hung by a slave patroller and two other men. He was then sent to a different plantation because it was no longer safe for Platt there. He was sent to a new cotton plantation where he was not treated well at all. At this stay, he was whipped many times. He made friends with a girl named Patsey and they helped each other survive. He also made friends with a white man from Canada. He told this man of his freedom and how he wished this man would write a letter to his family up north to send him his freedom papers. Not long after the man left, men from the North came down to the deep south and retrieved Solomon, taking him back to New York and to his home to be reunited with his family....
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...July 1808 in Minerva, New York, Solomon Northup grew up a free man, working as a farmer and violinist while having a family. He was lured south and kidnapped in 1841 and enslaved for more than a decade, enduring horribly violent conditions. Northup was freed in 1853 with help from colleagues and friends. Northup was born a free person of colour in what is now Minerva, New York. Though he claimed to have been born in July 1808 in Twelve Years a Slave, a later deposition in which he specified his birth date and age indicates that he was likely born a year earlier. His father, Mintus, had been born into slavery but was freed following the death of his master, Capt. Henry Northup, whose will contained the stipulation that his slaves be manumitted. Mintus eventually acquired his own farm and enough land to fulfill the property ownership requirement that African Americans faced in order to vote. Solomon received some education and worked on his family’s farm as a child.He married Anne Hampton in 1828. In 1834, after selling their farm, the couple moved to Saratoga Springs, New York, where they worked odd jobs to support their three children. Northup also established a reputation as a talented fiddler.His experiences are the subject of the book and film 12 Years a Slave. Background Solomon Northup was born in July 1808 in Minerva, New York. His father Mintus had once been enslaved but was released upon his former master's death, and hence Solomon and his older brother Joseph grew...
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...12 years a slave In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his dignity. Then in the 12th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon's life forever. Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is a memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. After having been kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana by various masters, Northup was able to write 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. The work was published eight years before the Civil War by Derby & Miller of Auburn, New York,[2] soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe's best-selling novel about slavery,Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), to which it lent factual support. Northup's book, dedicated to Stowe, sold 30,000 copies...
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..."12 Years A Slave" is a true autobiography about an African American man named Solomon Northup who is deceived and kidnapped and sold into slavery. He does everything in his power to try get back home to his family. Solomon Northup was a free man before he had become a slave. He would play his fiddle at gatherings and special events for the cause. Playing the fiddle was his passion, yet he was receiving little money from it. Solomon didn't get a lot of gigs which meant not a lot of money was coming in to support his family, but he was offered a job to play music all around the world by two men. His wife, Anne Northup was offered a job as a cook for a wealthy family, but Solomon didn't want her to take the job. Eventually Solomon gives his...
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...12 YEARS A SLAVE • Solomon Northup – violinist mistakenly turned into slave. • William Ford -- plantation owner/Solomon’s first Owner. • John Tibeats – Overseer who bullied Solomon. • Edwin Epps – Solomon’s second Owner • Patsey – Slave who was sexually abused. • Mary Epps – Edwin’s Wife • Armsby -- a white field hand and former over-seer • Bass -- a Canadian laborer SUMMARY The Movie “12 years a slave” is a fully detailed movie about slavery. It brings in scene African-American man working as a violinist named Solomon, Who was tricked by two men offering him a two-week job as a musician if he will travel to Washington, D.C. with them, but before Solomon knew what was going on he was drugged and sold in as a slave locked up with chains around his body. He was shipped to New Orleans and was renamed "Platt", the identity of a runaway slave from Georgia. Beaten repeatedly, he is ultimately purchased by plantation owner William Ford, Solomon went through being bullied and moved around for 12 years until he finally was being able to reach out to friends in New York that was able to confirm his New York Residency as being real. PROBLEMS Sexual Harassment, A young female slave named Patsey who picks over 500 pounds daily which is over the minimum pounds allowed daily, and is praised lavishly by Epps. He also repeatedly rapes her, and seems to fall in love with her against his better judgment. Epps' wife is envious of Patsey and frequently humiliates...
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...12 Years as a Slave is a film about real life events of a free African American man, Solomon Northup who is captured and sold into slavery for 12 years. The film takes us through Northup’s 12 years as a slave. In the film, you get to vividly see the cruelty, kindness and struggle to freedom that Solomon receives and observes from his masters as the years went by. Through his life as a slave he also gets to meet and interact with other slaves. In the beginning, Solomon Northup lives with his family in New York City and works as a violinist. He meets two men who promise him a two week music job in Washington DC. However, they intoxicate him with alcohol, drugs and sell him as a slave under the name Platt. At first, Northup tries to inform his captures of his kidnapping but his efforts are futile, and he ends up in more trouble that involves beatings and starvation. In view of this, he decides to be cooperative and agrees that his name is Platt and that he is a slave. Northup is first sold to a plantation owner, William Ford in New Orleans. Northup works hard, and he even creatively engineers a waterway for transporting logs across the swamp. William Ford is impressed with this and he in turn rewards Northup with a violin. Ford's carpenter, John Tibeats is jealous about this and in his attempt to beat Northup, ends up with him being beaten up instead. John Tibeats and his friends decide to torture Northup but Ford interrupts them and in his attempted to save Northup's life sells...
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...Naomi Chebii American Culture and Film 2nd Essay: 12 Years a Slave 28-09-2015 Ref: Analysis on 12 Years a Slave The film 12 Years a Slave tells the horrific true story of a free black man Solomon Northup, who was dragged, kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1850s America to suffer years of abuse in the Pre-Civil War South. From start to finish, basic facts about the time, the places, the people, and the practices of the day are incorporated, sometimes in excessive detail, into Northup’s story. He speaks with authority on all subjects of his enslavement, naming names and pointing out landmarks along the way. In doing so, he dares skeptics to refute his story, knowing that public record and common knowledge would defend it. The son of an emancipated slave, Northup was born free. He lived, worked, and married in New York, where his family resided. He was a multifaceted laborer and also an accomplished violin player. In 1841, aged 33, he was tricked into leaving his family behind his wife, and two young daughters, by two white con men, who offered him a job as a fiddler in a travelling circus. So he travelled with them to Washington, D.C., where they dragged him and sold him to a slave trader called Burch. Despite having papers showing he was a free man, Solomon was whipped and beaten and subjected into a brutal torture by his new owner. 12 Years a Slave serves as a timeless indictment of the practice of human slavery. As we saw from the film how Northup’s detailing the abuses...
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...G U I D E T E A C H E R’S A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE BY SOLOMON NORTHUP bY Jeanne M. McGlInn anD JaMes e. McGlInn 2 A Teacher’s Guide to Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup Table of Contents SYNOPSIS......................................................................................................................................3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR...............................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY GUIDE............................................................................3 MEETING COMMON CORE STANDARDS.............................................................3 THE SLAVE NARRATIVE GENRE...............................................................................3 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW..........................................................................................................4 DURING READING.....................................................................................................................6 SYNTHESIZING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.......................................................................9 ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES.......................................................................................................9 ACTIVITIES FOR USING THE FILM ADAPTATION........................................................ 11 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.....................................................................................
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...12 Years a Slave Author: Solomon Northup Forwarded By: Steve McQueen History 1301 October 7, 2013 The main idea of the book was to share with the reader and give a deeper understanding of what occurrences happened during the darkest periods in American history. The author shares his life during his twelve years, on a personal level, to be able to connect with his readers and show his perspective on his experiences during his time held captive as a slave. When taught about slavery, students can grasp, understand and feel how slaves felt back during the 1800s. Slaves were brutally beaten and worked from dusk till dawn. Slave masters had no mercy on their slaves; they would beat them till they were close to death. This is in fact true, what students are taught gives only one perspective of how slaves were treated. Because of this perspective that was planted in their minds, students begin to feel sorry and grateful that they were not born during that era. But one cannot just base their thoughts on just one thing; the whole picture must be seen in order to understand. Born and raised as a free man, Solomon Northup was framed, robbed of his free papers, and was sold into slavery. When Northup was taken into slavery, his first master, William Ford, was a kind master. He spoke only good things and encouraged his slaves to do better. Ford was rare; there were not many masters like him. Ford was kind to his slaves; he never beat them with a whip or humiliated them...
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...True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man, are not new to the world of writing. On the contrary, they are veteran authors who have researched and written numerous books. Judith and Dennis Fradin recognized that investigating and writing about the fascinating life of Solomon Northup would result in an inspiring book. Before the beginning of the Civil War Solomon Northup lived as a free black man in New York State with his wife and three children, which makes his narrative of being kidnapped and enslaved all the more incomprehensible. Solomon was an educated black man; therefore he was able to compile a narrative of his years as being a stolen “free” black man on the Louisiana cotton and sugar cane plantations. After Solomon was rescued from a Louisiana plantation and reunited with his family, he published his autobiography entitled, 12 Years a Slave. This autobiography led to the creation of a movie by the same name as well as a book for which this summary was written. What an individual remembers and what actually occurred can at times be hard to prove, yet the Fradins were able to verify many of Solomon’s accounts by acquiring actual bills of sale and court records. Any author can write about facts, but with the help of Solomon’s memoirs the Fradins were able to produce a...
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