Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave
Publisher:
Title: Twelve Years a Slave
Goodreads Rating: 4.20
Book URL: GoodReads.com
Twelve Years a Slave, sub-title: Narrative of Solomon Northup, citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana, is a memoir by Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. It is a slave narrative of a black man who was born free in New York state but kidnapped in Washington, D.C., sold into slavery, and kept in bondage…

A free citizen kidnapped and sold as a slave. It was only possible because of biases human race was (is) under! As rightly said by the author, a great sin is resting up on this nation. Any form of slavery is unjustified. And such institution is a mockery of the principle of liberty that this nation took birth from. Needless to mention, slavery is not local to America, there are still cases of bonded labor in India.

It seems to me that the author was only interested in escaping from being a slave but not interested in liberating others around him. He also seem to have accepted slavery and the concept of superiority of white skin, at least because of law. Easier said than done — being smarter and intelligent than others around him, he could have started a rebellion. Nevertheless, he risked his life in even uttering he was a free citizen and attempting to write a letter. It’s because of these brave men who challenged the status quo, the current generation is living a more comfortable life. Respect!