12 Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave is a memoir and novel about slavery published in 1853 by Solomon Northup and revised by David Wilson. Northup was a black and free-born man in New York State, and mentioned details of being deceived to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold as a slave in the Deep South. Northup remained in slavery for twelve years in Louisiana under various masters, was able to write to family and friends in New York, and was released with the help of the state. Northup has set up a record detailing the slave markets in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, and elaborates on the cultivation of cotton and sugar and the treatment of slaves on large farms in Louisiana.