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12 Years A Slave Reflection

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Recommended: Slavery in the 19th century in the states

Solomon Northup’s book Twelve Years a Slave covered the story of Northup himself as he was abducted and forced into slavery. He worked as a slave for 12 years before the North was able to locate and set him free. Solomon Northup’s story Is still as relevant today as it was how many years ago. At the time it was written, it “exposed the hardships and cruelty of slavery to the general public,”(Solomon) and today Twelve Years a Slave serves as an important historical document--a primary source for information on the conditions slaves lived in during the 1840’s. I chose this book because during this time slavery was still around but the practice of bringing slaves from Africa to America didn’t exist anymore, so the only way to get slaves was from children of current slaves. Or in this case kidnapping free African Americans.
In the book, “12 Years a Slave” takes place in the pre-Civil War United States era in upstate New York, where a man named Solomon Northup was born free and his family resided. The story takes place in the early 1840’s where Northup had a normal life, was married, and worked as both a laborer and a violinist. His love for instruments seemed to land him in slavery, since he was offered work in the circus playing fiddle …show more content…

In parts of the book I could really empathize for Solomon and his current situation. Then on the other hand, the book also gave a sense that slave life wasn’t as horrific as it truly was given that Solomon presents a fair description of both a caring slave owner and a tyrannical slave owner. I also found it interesting to read a section of the story talking about Christmas joy on the plantation, because it showed something the laborers looked forward to and even in their current situation they still enjoyed the little

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