Solomon Northup's Autobiography, Twelve Years A Slave

Solomon Northup , a free black man residing in new York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, recounts his astonishing story in his autobiography, Twelve Years a Slave. This narrative explores the harsh and inhumane treatment slaves constantly endured in nineteenth century America, and the struggles that thousands of free black men faced to regain their freedom. Additionally, Twelve Years a Slave explores the theme of unity and strength through religious and social means. By writing this autobiography, Northup highlights the everyday struggles of black slaves in Southern America, but also conveys the unity and strength that slaves drew from religious morals and anecdotes. Twelve Years a Slave goes into detail on the hardships that slaves endured, simply because their owners felt that they were superior, and that their slaves were simply property to be treated as desired. Northup indicates that he was tortured even before he was under a master, and especially after he went into the ownership of numerous masters. Immediately after he kidnapped by trusted collegues, Northup was told to say that he was a slave from Georgia. When he refused to say so, as he was a freeman from New York, he was lashed for stating that he was a free man. He
narrates: “I was all on fire… still he plied the lash without any stint upon my poor body until it seemed that the lacerated flesh was stripped from my bones at every stroke”. This was Northup’s first experience with the violence of slave masters--simply because he stated the truth about himself, he was beat to the extent that he didn’t think he would live after that. Northup and readers alike realize then that the violence involved in slave owning was extreme, inhumane, and horrifying. Readers continue to ascertain horrors that Northup endured even after when he was enslaved by various plantation owners. When he was enslaved by Master Tibeats, he narrates yet another gruesome episode. Northup was instructed by Master Tibeats to acquire a keg of nails to continue his task of construction. Even though Northup did as instructed, Master Tibeats ordered him to remove all clothing so he could be lashed. He refused to do so, gained control of his master, and eventually lashed him. As punishment, Northup was tied to a tree and hung so he could barely move, and recalls that “the earth almost blistered the feet that stood upon it… I was growing faint from pain, and thirst, and hunger” .This suffering was inhumane, but was one used by slave owners in the nineteenth century simply because slaves were not considered human, but simply livestock and property. Finally, Northup informs us of yet another incident of severe mistreatment. Northup was once in the ownership of Edwin Epps, who was a strict slave owner who held his slaves to nearly impossible lives. Northup mentions that under Master Epps, all slaves were required to pick cotton from sunrise to sunset, and anyone who picked less than 200 pounds of cotton would be lashed and sent out to work until they had collected the average 200 pounds. After this, slaves were commanded to complete additional chores: “One feeds the mules, another the swine, another cuts the wood, and so forth” .At the end of the day, they had to prepare their own meals, which was “three and a half pounds of bacon, and corn enough to make a peck of meal” .Finishing all these duties would keep them up until past midnight, but they feared that if they overslept, they would be subject to severe punishment the following day. The treatment of slaves in these plantations was inhumane and even violent in countless situations. Slaves were dealt with this way because their owners simply believed that whites were superior to blacks, and slaves were nothing but property. Northup details numerous incidents of mistreatment in his autobiography, and does not shy away from the reality of slaves in nineteenth century America. Northup also discusses the role that religion played on unity, hope, and strength for the slaves. Slaves in the nineteenth century were extremely religious and used the religious morals to uplift themselves and those around them. This is evident in Northup’s account of Master Ford, when he mentions that every Sabbath, they would pray together, and Master Ford would “[speak] of the loving kindness of the creator”. Northup described this action as generous and kind from the master, since these prayers and hopeful mentions of God gave many slaves hope during dark times or hardships. Even as mothers mourned their children, or laborers toiled in the boiling sun, they remembered God using prayers and hymns, to increase their strength and hope in God. When one of the slaves, Eliza, is separated from her young children, she “was seated in a corner by herself, singing hymns and praying for her children” .Many slaves like Eliza knew that could not make any difference regarding the agony that surrounded them—as they had no power to demand rights from their masters or seek help that would give them a better life. Therefore, they kept hope in God and built their resilience and ability to carry on through religious means. This theme is also explored when Master Ford is returning Northup, who fled from Master Tibeats. As they travelled, Master Ford and Northup talk about God and his blessing upon Northup “as Daniel came forth unharmed from the den of lions, and as Jonah had been preserved in the whale’s belly, even so [he] had been delivered from evil” .This narrative allows readers to understand that Master Ford gave Northup hope by mentioning many religious figures, and it also portrays the unity that this brought forth. Even though Master Ford and Northup were of different races, and were in the South, they both had a meaningful and respectful conversation regarding their religious morals. In short, this and many stories mentioned both in the autobiography and in the movie adapted from this bibliography showed the strength and hope many slaves drew from God when they were in hardship. In conclusion, in Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup chronicles his journey to freedom as a slave, and mentions the horrors many slaves faced in their everyday lives.
Slaves in the nineteenth century were subject to harsh and inhumane methods of treatments imply because their masters “looked upon a colored man, not as a human being…but as a ‘chattel personal’ as mere live property, no better, except in value, than his mule or dog”. Northup also mentions the how religion and belief in God helped keep him and those around him hopeful and courageous. Readers cannot shy away from the reality Northup mentions in his autobiography, and they come to realize that slavery was a vile practice in the American south during the
1800s.