Dehumanization In Solomon Northup's Twelve Years A Slave

The dehumanization Solomon Northup experienced after being kidnapped and forced into slavery was rampant throughout the institution of slavery as a whole. If anything, dehumanization was a vital and fundamental aspect of enslavement, a key characteristic in the perpetuation and expansion of the system. It was a tactic predominantly utilized by white slave owners to separate themselves from their slaves, to further engrain the notion of white supremacy into an already racially split society. Northup’s experiences, which he detailed in his book Twelve Years A Slave, only served to amplify the light shed on the atrocities committed during the antebellum era, and the points he made and examples he gave of the dehumanization that occurred bolstered the argument that dehumanization wasn’t only a physical attack, but in fact reached deeper. Throughout his book, Northup provided numerous instances of how dehumanization within slavery occurred outside of physical violence and assault, and could instead be seen in the restriction of

Slaves, he pointed out, did not need to be physically beat or abused in order to be dehumanized, maltreated, and molested. Instead, the depths of dehumanization provided the basis and foundation for enslavement, demonstrating how fear and terror played great roles in making slaves submissive, all without physical beatings or punishments, ultimately allowing slave owners to solidify their superiority without bodily damaging their own property. Dehumanization, physical or not, was what spurred slavery, allowing it to grow and manifest into an institution and system never before seen in the world, eventually leading to an entire hierarchical organization that structured society based solely on skin color, which also happened to be the most easily identifiable aspect about a