12 Years A Slave Sparknotes

Twelve Years a Slave was a very moving and insightful account of the turmoil the author, Solomon Northup, endured throughout his life. Born a freeman of New York, Northup established a family and talked to many slaves about the “secret desire for liberty” (p. 8). Northup did not understand why any white man could recognize the ideal of slavery. This narrative strived to portray a truthful account of slavery in the antebellum era of America before the outbreak of the Civil War. Northup succeeded in bringing attention to the need for the abolition of slavery, and he did not perceive that his narrative would spread immensely. His specificity in naming and events validates his narrative as truthful accounts of his life and slavery. This first-hand account brought to light the turmoil of slavery.
One day he was offered to go along on a trip to attain more money; however, this soon turned into a lure to kidnap Northup from the free state of New York. Northup was kidnapped at the age of thirty by James H. Burch. Burch was a slave trader whom beat Northup to near death for insisting he was a freeman. Northup was forcibly shipped to the South to perform arduous labor on the revived plantations in New Orleans. This correlates with the domestic slave trade occurring in this era. While in the hands of Burch’s counterpart, Theophilus Freeman, Northup’s name was changed to Platt. Northup was then sold to a man by the name of William Ford. Ford was a kind-hearted master of whom Northup admired. Due to financial struggles Northup was sold to John M. Tidbeats, who nearly killed him twice while under his services after Northup defended himself. Tidbeats eventually sold Northup to Edwin Epps, known to be a slave