In his true-life narrative "Twelve Years a Slave," Solomon Northup is a free man who is deceived into a situation that brings about his capture and ultimate misfortune to become a slave in the south. Solomon is a husband and father. Northup writes:
"From the time of my marriage to this day the love I have borne my wife has been sincere and unabated; and only those who have felt the glowing tenderness a father cherishes for his offspring, can appreciate my affection for the beloved children which have since been born to us" (22).
We see from this passage that Solomon is a loving devoted husband and father. He understands the relationship between a father and his children. Solomon appears through this writings to have been a good
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Ford preached of "kindness towards each other" (Northup 97). Ford would praise his slaves and servants and in return, the slaves would work hard to please him.
"It is a fact I have more than once observed, that those who treated their slaves most leniently, were rewarded by the greatest amount of labor. I know it from my own experience. It was a source of pleasure to surprise Master Ford with a greater day's work than was required, while, under subsequent masters, there was no prompter to extra effort but the overseer's lash. It was the desire of Ford's approving voice that suggested to an idea that resulted to his profit" (Northup 98).
Reading and writing were not tolerated of the slaves, but Ford would allow a slave the opportunity to own and read a bible. Northup looks back to these as the days as the "bright side of slavery" (103) and would have served him forever had he had his wife and children with him.
Solomon still wanted to return home and to his free man status. There was not a slave who did not want their freedom. No matter how pleasant or nasty a master was, it is human nature to need freedom. In Twelve Years a Slave it does not appear that a master would feel the obligation to care for his slaves from birth to death. In the case of death, it would be from premature death, not death from old age. As a slave lost his ability
William Ford, unlike other slave masters, is very comprehensive towards Platt and sympathizes with his slaves. Ford does not treat Platt unfairly like other masters do and is very understanding towards his slaves due to him being a priest. Slave masters treat their slaves according to what occurs in their lives and their personalities. William Ford is a very friendly individual which inhibits him to treat his slaves in a very similar manner. Because Ford treats Platt with respect, Platt tries to repay Ford with fine work, however, if Ford were to treat Platt crudely he would have resisted against Ford and would do a poor job with accomplishing his tasks.
Frederick Douglass’ speech on American Slavery compares greatly to Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson. Banneker called Jefferson out for saying a lot of things with no action behind his words. Douglass does the same thing to the North. He makes an argument that the north claims to be against slavery, claiming that the south should abolish it, but Douglass calls them out on the fact that they are verbalizing their distaste for slavery with no action behind it to change the circumstances. Douglass, like Banneker, shows his intellect by delivering a tactful argument that gains respect. Douglass spends a substantial amount of time calling the north out on their Christianity, pointing out that if they were Christians they would do something about slavery, and not rely on empty words.
When Frederick Douglass published his book, many read it and had their own ideas from the themes he referred to. One thing that was related to the theme of his book was how he said religious slaveholders were the cruelest to slaves. Religious slaveholders used the bible to prove that slavery was right. They quoted from the bible, Colossians 3:22, slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. They said that the bible tells slaves to be obedient to their masters, in which case, means that there are going to be slaves. They also looked back into the Old Testament and found times where the old prophets had slaves. At one point, a prophet returns a runaway slave back to another prophet who was his master. The Southerners saw that since the bible did not condemn slavery but mentioned it in many places, that they were right to have slaves. That is the reason they were so cruel to slaves; they thought that they had religion on their side backing them to do what they pleased to their slaves, since the bible tells them to follow all of their master’s commands. Mr. Covey, who was a slave breaker that possessed Frederick Douglass for a while, was a religious man. Frederick Douglass said that Mr. Covey forced a woman to break the commandment that a person should not commit adultery, but since the woman was a slave, the commandment meant nothing
After the American Revolution, slavery became a more significant component in the American economy. As a result of many slave owners being materialistic, slaves were overworked and treated callously. One such slave was Frederick Douglass. Through most of his life, Douglass was trapped in a typical slave environment. However, Douglass taught himself to read and eventually escaped the desolate life of a slave. After his freedom, Douglass wrote his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, which chronicled his life story. In his book, Douglass details his slave upbringing and how it affected him. His autobiography was incredibly comprehensive which is one reason
In the book 12 Years A Slave written from a primary source by Solomon Northup based on a true story describes the triumphant journey Solomon Northup goes through as he never lost hope of regaining his freedom and resisted the dehumanization of enslavement in many ways. Solomon was born a free black man in New York in 1808 while his father, Mintus was born a slave and gained his freedom as their master passed away also inheriting their masters last name "Northup". Growing Solomon worked on a farm with his dad and soon after his dad died in 1829 he soon married a women named Anne Hampton in which they soon moved to Saratoga Springs, New York and had three children of their own. They were living like any other free person was and soon Solomon was working in many industries and Anne established herself as a cook and in the 1830 's Solomon had a reputation of being a well played violinist. In 1841 Solomon had became unemployed and was looking for an occupation, he ran into Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton in who then offers him a job in a circus playing the violin. As they arrive in Washington D.C. which is slave territory, he begins to become sick and passes out which was planned by Merrill and Abram to poison and kidnap him in the slave territory and sell him in which he soon wakes up in chains in a slave pen. Solomon 's first master was James H. Burch who he was sold by the two men who had
obedient to the whites. He said if the slaves tried ever to revolt or try to escape they would burn in
When one travels in the country they learn the differences in the way people act or the way they are treated. Moving from Colonel Lloyd’s plantation to Baltimore, Frederick experienced the difference in how country slaves and city slaves were treated. 10. “A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave on the plantation. He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave on the plantation. There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and cheek those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation.” (64-65). Slaveholders in the city took pride in treating their
For the larger part of his life, Douglass believed in a living God and whom he knew can change the world. According to him, love and freedom were the most important foundations of Christianity. Therefore, it is his faith that pushed his hope that there would be an end to slavery and racial discrimination. It is critical to note that for many years,
After reading Solomon Northup's Twelve Years A Slave, I was overwhelmed with his experience. He was born a free man in New York in 1808. In 1841 he was tricked, captured, and sold into slavery in Washington, D.C. Throughout his book, Solomon goes into details describing his life as a slave, which validates our critique of slavery. As abolitionists, it is our duty to do something about slavery. Although, as abolitionists, we have a history of disagreements among us, it time to put a stop to our arguments and start fighting for something we all believe in - to abolish slavery. While the growing cotton economy has made slavery more attractive than ever before to most southern people, slavery has to be abolished based on these reasons:
Solomon Northup was a free African American man from Minerva, New York. In the novel Twelve Years a Salve, Northup composed a narrative about his life as a free man, and also his life as a slave. In the year of 1814 Northup was kidnapped and taken deep South, to the rugged life of slavery. After 12 years of being thrown into the slavery against his will, he rightfully regained his freedom in January of 1853 all because he came in contact with an abolitionist from Canada, who sent letters to his family about his situation.
During a time of cruel punishment and harsh conditions of life as a slave in the 19th century South, there was a book that shed a light on the life of a slave unparalleled in past as well as in modern literature. That book was entitled Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Northup was born a freeman that was obtained from his father after being freed by the Northup family due to loyal service. Growing up in the free state of New York, Solomon was allowed an education that was rare because of the sad disposition of the majority of his race. Solomon gained much knowledge of industry and hard work from his father. As a free man of color, he enjoyed various jobs and hobbies from timber raft building to playing
Before the Reconstruction which took place after the Civil War, many slaves began to acquire their freedom by many things, including escaping plantations, buying their freedom, or being granted freedom from their former owners. Once slaves entered the North, they were able to finally be seen as a free African American. The thing that scared African Americans the most, frequently happened, being sent back to the South into slavery. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup gives a recap of how his life, filled with joy and freedom one day, became a living nightmare the next. Northup, a self-taught, master violin player is fooled into traveling with “gentlemen” to share his talents for a small fortune. Leaving his family behind, he decides to go with the men and once he reaches New York City, the men convince Northup to travel to Washington D.C. Solomon soon began feeling sick and one day wakes up chained in a cell. Next thing he knows, he is being sold into slavery. He lives a life of a slave for twelve years until he is rescued by Henry B. Northup, who saves Solomon while he was working in the field. Once back in his own home, Solomon writes an autobiography of his experiences. After many decades, a historical movie retelling Solomon’s autobiography was released. Throughout the movie, many differences are present. For example, the wife of Solomon’s master was portrayed to be an evil woman in the movie, but in the book not so evil. Another example is while slaves did not fight back
Solomon bust the door down and get them out” (239). “We was scart of Solomon
thesis:Twelve Years a Slave, is a vivid memoir of Northup's captivity as free man in the slave ridden south. Solomon's experience was one of countless millions kidnapped, and sold into slavery. What makes his Solomon's story unique, is that he lived to tell the, horrors and atrocities of slavery.
Solomon Northup was born a freeman in New York in 1808 (3). His father, who had been a slave until his owner death had granted him his freedom in his, wills (5). In 1829, Northup married Anne Hampton and worked as a laborer in Hartford (6). However, Solomon was captured after being tricked by slave traders to work