Twelve Years a Slave

Set in the antebellum South, the memoir recounts the harrowing journey of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. Over twelve years, he endured brutal treatment and witnessed the horrors of plantation life in Louisiana. His eventual rescue came through the intervention of a sympathetic white man, allowing him to return to his family. Northup's powerful narrative not only sheds light on the atrocities of slavery but also serves as a significant contribution to the abolitionist movement.