An Astounding Book: 12 Years a Slave
The movie 12 Years A Slave was receiving rave reviews during this award season, but the only thing I know about the movie is that fact that it starred Brad Pitt, and I had no interest in seeing another slavery story told from the white man's point of view. However, curiosity got the best of me, so I Googled the title to find what the movie is about. This led to me discover that it's based on an autobiography of Solomon Northup, a black man from the 1800's who was kidnapped from New York and trafficked into working as a slave in Louisiana.
12 Years A Slave originally published in 1853 and was a best seller back then, is now in audio form and available at my public library, so I decided to give it a listen: The book is simply astounding. Read by Richard Allen in a slightly antiquated American language style that took me a while to get used to, the book unveiled the horrors of slavery told from the point of view of a former free man forced into slavery. Northup narrates how he, a man supposedly protected by the status of being a "free man" could possibly have been subjugated into slavery through force, intimidation, threats, physical and relentless beatings designed to break the human spirit. His account was so real and horrifying that I couldn't help but think that without vigilance and conscience on the part of all of us, how easy it can be for people to convince themselves of their own superiority and then convince themselves that they have a right to exercise overwhelming cruelty and dominance to extinguish the hopes and freedom of those they deem inferior.
Do I want to see the movie now that I've read the book? I don't think so. After listening to Northup's account of the true horrors of slavery, I don't have the stomach to see the story told on film. However, I do think that we students of American history should all read this autobiography. Just as Anne Frank's Diary, a first person's account of the horrors of the holocaust in Europe, is required reading in American schools, 12 Years A Slave, told from the point of view of the oppressed, drives home why slavery needed to end and why the Civil Rights Movement was so important to America in ways that no history text book ever could.
Northup also puts to rest the patronizing argument out there that somehow American slaves could have led a happy life even if they were denied freedom. Only by denying the oppressed population a voice can the oppressors possibly have a chance to delude himself and others with this ridiculous notion. But, Solomon Northup had a voice. I am just surprised it took a British filmmaker to reintroduce this book for Northup's voice to be heard again.
The book is free online in various forms, but here is one of them. Read it!
12 Years A Slave originally published in 1853 and was a best seller back then, is now in audio form and available at my public library, so I decided to give it a listen: The book is simply astounding. Read by Richard Allen in a slightly antiquated American language style that took me a while to get used to, the book unveiled the horrors of slavery told from the point of view of a former free man forced into slavery. Northup narrates how he, a man supposedly protected by the status of being a "free man" could possibly have been subjugated into slavery through force, intimidation, threats, physical and relentless beatings designed to break the human spirit. His account was so real and horrifying that I couldn't help but think that without vigilance and conscience on the part of all of us, how easy it can be for people to convince themselves of their own superiority and then convince themselves that they have a right to exercise overwhelming cruelty and dominance to extinguish the hopes and freedom of those they deem inferior.
Do I want to see the movie now that I've read the book? I don't think so. After listening to Northup's account of the true horrors of slavery, I don't have the stomach to see the story told on film. However, I do think that we students of American history should all read this autobiography. Just as Anne Frank's Diary, a first person's account of the horrors of the holocaust in Europe, is required reading in American schools, 12 Years A Slave, told from the point of view of the oppressed, drives home why slavery needed to end and why the Civil Rights Movement was so important to America in ways that no history text book ever could.
Northup also puts to rest the patronizing argument out there that somehow American slaves could have led a happy life even if they were denied freedom. Only by denying the oppressed population a voice can the oppressors possibly have a chance to delude himself and others with this ridiculous notion. But, Solomon Northup had a voice. I am just surprised it took a British filmmaker to reintroduce this book for Northup's voice to be heard again.
The book is free online in various forms, but here is one of them. Read it!
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