12 Years a Slave (13/07/14)

I am not normally a big fan of memoirs or autobiographies, but after watching 12 Years a Slave and upon finding out that Solomon Northup had written about his experience I thought I would give it ago. Now bearing in mind that I had seen the film, so knew the gist of his tale and the major plot elements, I still enjoyed this book. Now, enjoyed may be the wrong term, I definitely feel enlightened and am now more aware of history of slavery in the deep south. Especially with the cases of ‘white slaves’ or mulattoes which had been previously overlooked throughout the brief education on the subject given at school. I had to look up the term as Solomon kept mentioning it, and I had never before come across the term. Coming from the UK, our education is very sparse on this matter and only covers the basics of; slavery happened, this is how they were expected to live and work, then it was abolished.

Now back to the book, it wasn’t the easiest of read, having been written in the 1840’s after Solomon’s release from bondage. Some of the sentences were pretty heavy going mainly because of words or phrases being present no longer in use. I persevered through, as once I started I felt I had to finish it. In my opinion the only way of getting a real account of conditions and the practices during this portion of history is from the people who experienced it. However, due to the way the slaves were treated, many did not know how to read or write so I don’t know how abundant this information is.

Solomon’s narrative is concise, when considering he was a slave for 12 years and he goes into great detail about how cotton and sugar cane is planted and grown so that the reader better understands the constant work load the slaves were expected to work under. His is a happier tale than most although still bittersweet. This isn’t a spoiler, as he would not have been able to write his account had he not escaped captivity. It is also a thought provoking book, when he speaks of kinder plantation owners, that whilst are still keeping other humans as slaves are not considered by him to be bad people, just that they are the products of the education and environment they live in. I would recommend, but it is not light reading.