...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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...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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...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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...aren't born to be owned or to be used as free labor. I believe that prejudice supports the practice of slavery In the attribution error the slave owners developed attitudes that would justified slavery in their minds, they perceived the people they enslaved as lazy, ignorant, and irresponsible. In the movie 12 Years a Slave, the stereotypes were seen thru out the movie, so much so that even upon Solomons freedom people would not believe he could be a free man solely because of the color of his skin. I dont know if I have more empathy for Solomon as a freed African American or for the Africans who were still enslaved. I started thinking am I a bad person because I valued one person's pain over another even though they were both thrown into the very same physical and emotional situation of slavery? I am not saying that each was displayed as two different kinds of people but the film did differentiate two very different ways of thinking. Solomon Northup’s story is cruel and inhuman but what's fascinating about the story is how it looks at prejudice, slavery, social structures and moral issues with the white and black cultures. Moments into the film the conversation between Solomon and Eliza forced me to not only view the past from a different angle, but to rethink where we as human stand on this subject today. How often are we like Solomon and convinced that things aren’t that bad like Eliza in the film, we cannot excuse injustice, no matter what it hids behind. Never before...
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...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 him...
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...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 he endured and those...
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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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...Northup’s distinctive voice throughout the memoir had been largely influenced by his persona as a slave working under the adverse supervision of Epps. The memoir had been derived from his perspective as a slave; thus, revealing his response towards key issues that perpetuated throughout the novel. Northup was able to explore the fundamental issue of the role of female slaves during the post-colonial period in America, specifically the sexual exploitation of female slaves. Northup’s persona towards the dire treatment of black female slaves is that of extreme animosity and disgust. His stance against female marginalisation was presented through the use of stylistic features; namely, the inherent employment of figurative language when discussing...
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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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...The movie 12 Years a Slave directed by Steve Mcqueen in my opinion is one the best films that show the life of slavery from back in the day. This film, which had been made in relation to its book, tells of the true story of the events that had took place during Solomon Northup’s life. Not only does this film go in depth about what it was like to be a slave, but it indeed goes into how they had faced major inequalities in their life. Solomon Northup, who was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, lived a life as a talented violinist up in the North, until one day it had all changed for him. Northup was took from his normal, free life and sold into slavery in the south where he would not be free. The movie follows the events of his life that take...
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...The purpose of this book is to show that how 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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...For many years there were many slave narratives coming from slaves that were born into slavery and found their freedom either through emancipation or escaping. These narratives personified the harsh and cruel reality of slavery while also justifying their escape. Never was it know the true unbiased good and bad of slavery until 1853 with the publication of 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northrup a free born man of Saratoga, NY that was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and escaped to his freedom and how he viewed and survived slavery based on what he experienced as a slave and what he knew as a free man. Once Northrop regains his freedom he begins to travel and lecture about his time of bondage and writes this novel with the purpose of gaining the attention of people in the north more specifically white people in the north that have no true understanding of the south, the institution is slavery in the south, and the treatment of slaves in that area. Due to his appeal to those with little to no prior knowledge of the south and slavery in the south he has to write and speak in a way that everyone can understand. He must give explicit details of his life before slavery living as a free man in New York making wages by playing the Violin and doing other skilled work, and his life as a slave such as picking cotton and being a victim of whippings and abuse at the hands on an angry master. Northrup is also speaking to anti- slavery groups and abolitionists to prompt them to work more in their...
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... Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing” and Solomon Northrup, “Twelve Years a Slave” are two memoirs with similar themes that encompassed their societies. These literally works depicts many life stories in which thematic concerns of religion, racism, chauvinism, education, poverty and seclusion carry an American dream. One quickly notices that they both relate in the way they pass out their different themes especially the theme of religion in this case. Religion is the main concern in this article considered for literary analysis. Therefore, the two authors used religion as part of their larger story to bring out a more or less the same thematic concept. Maya Angelou composed a stunning and energizing personal history titled “I know why the caged birds sing” of her hardship in her growth as a dark young woman in the southern states of America. Set in the 1930's the place the legacy of subjection remained. One thing, which made this literature work so fascinating to peruse, was the way that this book had such a variety of topics, which are both relative and imperative to us today like the absence of equivalent chances, prejudice, bias, training, neediness, seclusion, religion and The American Dream. On the other hand, in his work Solomon Northrup’s, “Twelve Years a Slave” shows the pain and ill-use encountered by Solomon Northrup in his 12 years of subjugation. For instance, the huge number of different slaves hijacked in Africa and sold over the US is a inexcusable...
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...Source: Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northrup (Auburn, N.Y., 1854) The purpose of Solomon Northup’s book was to share his detailed account of his experiences of his enslavement to rescue from 1841 to 1853, Twelve Years. Solomon Northup was born a free man in 1808 to an emancipated slave named Mintus Northup, who was originally enslaved to the Northup family in Rhode Island. Solomon grew up working on a farm alongside his father had many valuable skills. He was a farmer, carpenter and raftsman who could read, write and play the fiddle/violin. He married a cook of mixed race, Ann Hampton when he was 21 and fathered three children. He described the beauty of the free life he lives and how much he enjoys spending time with his family and earning a living through his many trades. In 1841, he and his family were living in Saratoga Springs New York where he was approached by two men who offered him generous wages as a Violin player in the circus, Solomon didn’t object and left with them immediately thinking he would be back very soon before anyone could miss him. Before leaving New York for the circus show, they insisted he gathered his free papers then travel with them to Washington D.C where those two men gained his trust, took him to a bar to have a few drinks and then drugged his drink which left him staggering, barely coherent, and violently ill. He awoke the next day, shackled in pitch darkness in a slave pen robbed of his free papers. “Alone, in utter darkness...
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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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