"Having been born a freeman, and for more than thirty years enjoyed the blessings of liberty in a free State—and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into Slavery, where I remained, until happily rescued in the month of January, 1853, after a bondage of twelve years—it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public." -an excerpt

Kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, freeman Solomon Northup spent twelve years in bondage before being freed. Twelve Years a Slave is Northup’s moving memoir, revealing unimaginable details of the horrors he faced as a slave on Southern plantations, and his unshakable belief that he would return home to his family. Written in the year after Northup was freed and published in the wake of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Northup’s story was quickly taken up by abolitionist groups and news organizations as part of the fight against slavery, and continues to resonate more than a century after the end of the American Civil War.

DIVMore than 2,000 former slaves provide first-person accounts in blunt, simple language about their lives in bondage. Illuminating, often startling information about southern life before, during, and after the Civil War. /div

After years of fact checking, here is the entire text of Twelve Years A Slave, with annotations throughout and back stories on all of the characters-even the villains other historians have ignored. This is the true story of Twelve Years a Slave, and of David Wilson, the man who really wrote Solomon Northup's story into history.

Follows the remarkable story of Solomon Northup--a free black man who was kidnapped and forced into slavery--through his 12 years of bondage in Louisiana until friends from New York rescued him from a cotton plantation.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s enchanting and unforgettable novel, based on little-known fact, combines the narrative allure of Cane River by Lalita Tademy and the moral complexities of Edward P. Jones’s The Known World as it tells the story of four black enslaved women in the years preceding the Civil War. wench \'wench\ n. from Middle English “wenchel,”1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child. Situated in Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses. It’s their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at the resort, building strong friendships over the years. But when Mawu, as fearless as she is assured, comes along and starts talking of running away, things change. To run is to leave everything behind, and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances—all while they bear witness to the end of an era. An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery. “Readers entranced by The Help will be equally riveted by Wench. A deeply moving, beautifully written novel told from the heart.”—USA Today

This Edition of Twelve Years A Slave is the Original 1853 Edition and Is Annotated. Solomon Northup was born as a free man in either July 10, 1807 or 1808 in Minerva, New York to a father named Mintus, who was a freed slave and a mother who was a free woman of color. He grew up, working on his family farm with his father and older brother, Joseph. He loved reading books and playing music on the violin. On December 25, 1829, he married Anne Hampton and together, they had three children named Elizabeth, Margaret and Alonzo. They owned and worked a farm. Solomon was well-known as an accomplished fiddler and his wife was well-known (and paid) for her cooking. In 1841, while looking for employment, Northup was convinced by two men to travel to Washington D.C. They claimed to be affiliated with a circus. In Washington D.C. Northup was drugged, beaten severely, kidnapped and then sold into slavery. This began 12 of the most challenging years of his life. His name was also changed to Platt Hamilton. He was first sold to a more benevolent slave owner named William Prince Ford. A difficult financial situation forced Ford to sell him to John M. Tibaut, who was extremely brutal to Northup. After almost getting hung by Tibaut, Northup fled to Ford for protection. Tibaut and Ford sold Northup to a man named Edwin Epps, where Northup remained for about a decade. He spent time on Epps' plantation being lent out to others, and also as a driver to help manage other slaves. He spent his 12 years in slavery in Louisiana.

The author discusses the writings of Richard Allen, Solomon Bayley, Henry Bibb, Henry Box Brown, John Brown, Leonard Black, William Wells Brown, Lewis Clarke, William Craft, Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, Olaudah Equiano, Moses Grandy, Jacob D. Green, William Grimes, James A.U. Gronniosaw, Briton Hammon, Josiah Henson, Harriet Jacobs, John Jea, Lunsford Lane, Jarena Lee, John Marrant, Solomon Northrup, James W. Pennington, James Robert, Moses Roper, Venture Smith, Austin Steward, Nat Turner, Samuel R. Ward, Booker T. Washington, James Watkins, George White, James Williams, and others.

Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is a memoir and slave narrative by Solomon Northup. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York, details his kidnapping in Washington, D.C. and subsequent sale into slavery. After having been kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana by various masters, Northup was able to write to friends and family in New York, who were able to secure his release.

Presents a collection of thirty-six of Aesop's fables, including "The Cat and the Mouse," "The Ant and the Grasshopper," and "The Vain Crow."