Twelve Years A Slave By Solomon Northup

The act of violence also contributes to the dehumanization and the “breaking down” of the slaves. Slaves were beaten, and whipped daily, subjected to cruel torture. Northup describes these acts of violence in his narrative very vividly.

 Northup served a number of masters. Some brutally cruel and others whose humanity he praised. Each plantation had its own set of morals, codes, and rules, but all slaves had a slave master they had to obey no matter what. Treatments such as mutilation, branding, chaining, and murder regulated. Which means it was not against the law in the south to do these disgusting things to human beings. The way slave owners treated the slaves put a barrier between whites and blacks. This made African American look and whites in an almost hateful way. They wanted to rebel but knew the consequence that came with that. And for years to come the relationship between whites and blacks where influenced by slavery.

The institution of slavery is something that can corrupt all parties involved or that around it. There was no exception, men, women, children, and the slaves themselves could be subject to be corrupted due to these horrific circumstances. Obviously the slave owners were the most corrupted with thinking that this institution was morally right, but their children were taught at a young age that this treatment to black people was fine. Douglass says that it was a very common saying even among the young white boys

Frederick Douglass wrote his autobiography to provide a look into the world of a slave. His audience varied, from abolitionists, to whites that were on the fence about the issue, but his purpose remained: to allow non-slaves to learn about the horrors of slavery. In this autobiography, Douglass dispelled readers’ “illusions about slavery” by merely telling his true story, an everyman tale for slaves. Douglass worked on plantations in the Maryland area, and those plantations were considered to be easier than those of Georgia or Alabama, as unruly or ornery slaves were “sold to a Georgia [slave] trader” as punishment (54). Douglass may very well have been one of the better-treated slaves of his era, and in revealing the horrors of his

Slavery corrupts white slave owners in ways that are detrimental to the South through how it changes a normal person into a ruthless tyrant, treat human beings as less than an animal, and who overall have no sense of identity, age, or personality. As a child, Douglass’s life was not all bad because he was on the better side of being a slave , for example he worked in the great house until he was about 8 years old. As he got older he learned that different owners treated their slaves with more deception, more care, or didn’t care about their slaves at all leaving them hungry and tired. All slave owners treated their ‘property’ with cruelty. He had many owners including Edward Covey, Captain Anthony, and Sophia Auld. All of whom failed to see his humanity. In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, F. Douglass shows that slavery corrupts slave owners and gives others the idea that it is okay,and that slaves should be treated as livestock and inhumanely. Douglass shows that slavery corrupts people by telling us about the lives of Edward Covey, Captain Anthony, and Sophia Auld. We see how being a slave owner shows the brutal side of a person.

The life of a slave was an unfair and unjust degrading way to live. "I was often awakened at the dawn of the day by the most heart-rending shrieks, the louder that they screamed the harder they got whipped. Where the blood ran the fastest, there he whipped the longest" (Douglass, 3). Slaves were classified as property; they were inferior

Nevertheless, two years later, Ford’s financial difficulties had pushed Northup to Edwin Epps, an extremely cruel cotton and sugarcane plantation owner, where he endured and suffered the next 10 years of extreme physical and emotional abuses. Northup worn out by fulfilling his roles as a cotton picker, hauler and driver. In addition, his moral stance was greatly devalued when he was forced to punished his fellow slaves whenever they performed undesirable outcomes.

Frederick Douglass witnessed the first-hand mistreatment of slaves. “Mr. Severe whooped a woman causing the blood to run half an hour at the time in the midst of her crying children pleading for their mother’s release.’’ (Douglass pg. ) Slave-owners believed that the brutality of beating a slave would teach them to obey and would shape them to have better character. “They constantly lived in fear.”(Douglass pg.) Old Barney and young Barney constantly lived in fear because they never knew when they were going to be punished because the owner found some ridiculous thing about the horse that he did not think was up to par. “He spoke of how they claimed that the black had hit a man for hitting him, so he retaliated on the white man. By the time the slave got back his eyes were swollen shut and his arms were broke.”(Green Journal) Just because this black slave was trying to stand up and defend himself, he faced heavy consequences. Whites thought they justified the situation if they beat a slave until they physically are not equipped to do any work. They found pleasure and satisfaction out of such horror. “They treat us like animals, but tonight we will be forced to be their women.’’(Copper Sun) There is no justice in this! No penalty or consequence for rapeing a women because a man is too disgusting to keep to himself! These white men just used these slaves as toys instead of treating the women like humans beings. “It is only possible to justify treating people differently if there exists some factual difference between them that justifies such difference in treatment.”

When you think of slavery and how the experience of being a slave must have been like, you might think of picking cotton, or a cruel overseer who lashed slaves regularly. And while it’s true that many slaves experienced something along these lines, the slave narratives of the library of Congress illustrate that every slave’s story is a little different. The story of Solomon Northup, portrayed in his book 12 Years A Slave, is one much different from other slave narratives, such as the story of Amos Gadsden. The two stories differ in the way the stories are told, the men’s experiences as slaves and in their slaveowners.

Also, Northup pointed out that black people were the same as white people: they all shared same intelligent, and same emotions. Northup was a black man in the North, where slavery is illegal. However, the idea of the black people was second-class citizen was normal at that period of time. His right as a freeman was violated a lot, both in North as a free citizen and in south as a slave. He once said in the book, “that the southern slave, fed, clothed, whipped and protected by his master, is happier than the free colored citizen of the North” (121). As long as the master protected his slaves, like Mr. Ford did, slaves felt happy. In other words, Northup felt that he would give up his freedom to be loved and cared about. Black people in the country

Black people could be smart, and Northup was the good example for it. When Mrs. Ford needed the slaves to make some winter garments but did not know how to get it, Northup inspected some of the looms and made one himself successfully (102). Another example was that Northup came up with an idea that provided him extra food: he invented a trap in order to catch the fish in the river, and from that time on, the slaves in that area learnt how to get extra meat (200). Despite of being a colored person, Northup was intelligent, and he used his gift to help himself as well as others. He could prove that the blacks were not inferior, and they were not supposed to be white people’s servants. The blacks were also faithful just as white people did. They

Slave Narratives served as a revelation of slave life in the Deep South during the 1840s and 1850s. The book, Twelve Years a Slave, was a means of educating whites about the true essence of the institution of slavery. One factor that helped maintain slavery was white supremacy due to the unawareness of what slavery truly consisted of. In the 1850s, blacks were viewed as being inferior beings by whites and blacks were conditioned to view themselves in a similar way. The manner in which Northup refers to himself and other blacks in his book can be regarded as being degrading.

"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).

Solomon Northup is a prime example of the cruel treatment black people received. He was deceived into thinking he was joining two fellow performers to work in Washington at a circus, but instead was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. He tries to plead his case and fight for his freedom but all he gets in return are blows to his back until he accepts his new role as a Georgia runaway slave. This is not only an example of how black people were physically abused, but also how they were psychologically abused. As soon as he is kidnapped, he is stripped away from everything he once was and everything he once knew. He is given a new name and identity and if he dared to proclaim otherwise, it would cost him his life. It is unfortunate that black men and women in the North were never actually safe, even if they were born free, they risked getting abducted and sold to slave owners in the South, just like Solomon was. Kidnapping was not the only cruel act in which black people were targeted, they were also humiliated and treated as less than a white person.

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