For the upcoming film based on the memoir Essay

Twelve Years a slave (1853 sub-title Narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in capital letter city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton woodlet near the Red River in Louisiana), by Solomon Northup as told to David Wilson, is a memoir of a morose homosexual who was born free in New York state but kidnapped, exchange into slavery and unbroken in bond grow for 12 years in Louisiana before the American cultivated War. He provided details of slave markets in Washington, DC, as well as describing at length cotton gloss on major plantations in Louisiana. Published soon after Harriet Beecher Stowes novel, Uncle Toms Cabin, Northups concur sold 30,000 copies and was considered a bestseller.1 It went through several editions in the nineteenth century.Supporting Stowes fabricated narrative in detail, Northups first-hand account of his twelve years of bondage proved another bombshellpeacock term in the nationalpolitical debate everywhere slavery leading up to the Civil War, drawing endorsements from major Northern newspapers, anti-slavery organizations, and evangelistic groups. After several editions in the 19th Century, the book fell into obscurity for nearly 100 years, until it was re-discovered by two Louisiana historians, Dr. Sue Eakin (Louisiana State University at Alexandria) and Dr. Joseph Logsdon (University of New siege of Orleans).2 In the early 1960s they re huntinged and retraced Solomon Northups journey3 and co-edited a historically annotated version that was published by LSU Press in 1968. 4 A 2013 film establish on the story and directed by Steve McQueen is scheduled for release by Fox Searchlight Pictures on October 18, 2013. table of contents hide1 Synopsis2 Reception and historical value3 Editions and adaptations4 References5 remote linksSynopsiseditIn Upstate New York, black freeman Solomon Northup, a practised carpenter and fiddler, is approached by two circus promoters who offer him a brief, high-paying job with their traveling circus. Without informing his wife, who is away at cook in the next town, he travels with the strangers towards Washington DC in good spirits. One morning, he wakes to scram himself drugged, bound, and in the cell of a slave pen. When Northup asserts his rights as a freeman, he is beaten and warned never once more to mention his free life in New York. Transported by ship to New Orleans, Northup and other enslaved blacks press out smallpox and some die. In transit, Northup implores a sympathetic sailor to send a garner to his family.The letter arrives safely, but, lacking knowledge of his final destination, Northups family is unable to effect his rescue. Northups first owner is William Ford, a cotton planter on a bayou of the Red River, and he subsequently has several other owners during his twelve-year bondage. At times, his carpentry and other skills mean he is treated relatively well, but he also suffers utmost(prenominal) cruelty. On two occasions, he is attacked by a man who is to become his owner, John Tibeats, and finds himself unable to drive retaliating, for which he suffers great reprisals. Later he is sold to Edwin Epps, a notoriously cruel planter, who gives Northup the role of driver, requiring him to deal the fashion of fellow slaves and punish them for undesirable behavior.Never, in almost 12 years, does he reveal his avowedly history to a single slave or owner. Finally he confides his story in Samuel Bass, a uninfected carpenter from Canada. Bass sends a letter to Northups wife, who calls on Henry Northup, a white attorney whose family once held and then freed Solomon Northups father. Henry Northup contacts New York state officials and the governor appoints him as an ingredient to travel to Louisiana and free Solomon Northup. He succeeds, and Solomon Northup leaves the plantation. After instigating a court case against the men who sold him into slavery, Northup is reunited with his family in New York. Reception an d historical valueeditNorthups account describes the daily life of slaves at Bayou boeuf in Louisiana, their diet and living conditions, the relationship between the master and slave, and the means that slave catchers had used to experience runaways. Northups slave narrative has details similar to those of some other authors, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, or William Wells Brown, but he was unique in being kidnapped as a free man and sold into slavery.His book was a bestseller, rapidly selling 30,000 copies in the years before the American Civil War.1 After additional printings in the 19th century, the book went out-of-print until 1968,4 when historians Joseph Logsdon and Sue Eakin restored it to prominence. Dr. Eakin first discovered the story as a child growing up in Louisiana plantation country. Dr. Logsdons discovery occurred when a student from an old Louisiana family brought to class a copy of the original 1853 book that had been in her family for over a cen tury.Together Logsdon and Eakin validated Solomon Northups tale by retracing his journey through Bayou Boeuf plantation country in central Louisiana where his bondage took place, through the slave sales records of New Orleans and Washington, D.C., and further documented his New York State origins, his fathers freemans decree, and the legal work which restored Northups freedom and prosecuted his abductors. In 1968, Eakin and Logsdons heavily foot famed edition of the original book was published by Louisiana State University Press, shedding new light on Northups story and establishing its historic significance.That book has been widely used by scholars and in classrooms for over fifty years and is still in print. In 1998 Logsdon received a call from scholars in upstate New York inviting him to participate in a search for Solomons grave, however bad weather prevented the search and Logsdon died the following June (1999).In 2007, Dr. Eakin completed development of an updated and expand version that includes over 150 pages of new background material, maps, and photographs shortly before her death at age 90. In 2013, e-book and audiobook versions of her final definitive edition were released in her honor. With permission, scholars may use Eakins lifetime memorial through The Sue Eakin Collection, LSU at Alexandria, La. The Joseph Logsdon Archives are available at the University of New Orleans. Historian Jesse Holland noted in a 2009 interview that he had relied on Northups memoir and detailed description of Washington in 1841 to identify the location of some slave markets. Holland has also researched the roles of ethnic African slaves as skilled laborers who helped build some of the important public buildings in Washington, including the Capitol and part of the original Executive Mansion.5