TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE by SOLOMON NORTHUP (1853)

In 1841, Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York State, was drugged and kidnapped and taken to the South, where he was sold as a slave. He wrote this account of his twelve years of captivity following his rescue and return to his wife and three children. It joins other first-hand accounts by former slaves to give voice as to the degradation, suffering, and powerlessness endured by those of Negro blood who were considered to be less than human, subject to being bought and sold.

For those readers who might discount the truthfulness of this memoir, twentieth-century historians have verified the traceable details. Also noteworthy is the fact that Northup does not condemn all of his slave "masters," even providing some explanation as to how men who otherwise exhibited kindness and conscience could countenance one man owning another. He writes of one of his owners, who was kind to him: "The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery....Brought up under other circumstances and other influences, his notions would undoubtedly have been different."

The main of this harrowing account concerns the "master" whom Northup served for ten years, whose cruel actions included capricious beatings for the most minor of perceived transgressions and the repeated rape of one of the women. The food of the slaves consisted of bacon, which was often wormy, and corn meal, which they had to prepare themselves after a full day's work, which often extended to midnight. Even their brief hours of sleep were not restful, because they knew that they would be whipped if they were not in the fields before sunrise, and they were fearful they would oversleep. They had even more to fear when their master came home in a drunken state. The slaves' only respite from backbreaking work and fear of punishment came for a few days at Christmas.

One aspect of the account that especially stood out for me was the almost universal belief among white Southerners that a black man was a beast, a valuable animal on par with other farm animals, more valuable only because he could understand directions.

Near the end of the book, Northup makes this prophetic statement: "They are deceived who flatter themselves that the ignorant and debased slave has no conception of the magnitude of his wrongs. They are deceived who imagine that he arises from his knees, with back lacerated and bleeding, cherishing only a spirit of meekness and forgiveness. A day may come--it will come, if his prayer is heard--a terrible day of vengeance when the master in his turn will cry in vain for mercy."

This book should be required reading, especially in the South, where some still wish to fly the Confederate flag and celebrate their "heritage."