Twelve Years a Slave Key Takeaways

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup has gained attention in recent years, thanks to the film adaptation, which won several Academy Awards. I personally loved the film and finally got around to reading Northup’s memoir, which happened to be available recently on Amazon Prime Reading for free. The book is absolutely phenomenal.

Twelve Years a Slave Key Takeaways outlines the key lessons I took from Northup’s memoir of his experience being kidnapped and made a slave in the Deep South. Northup’s account is particularly enlightening because he was a well-educated, prosperous individual in New York prior to his kidnapping and is able to convey his experience in great detail. When it was published, the book was a bestseller but unfortunately became unknown after the Civil War. It resurfaced in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement and has since become a prominent primary source for readers looking to better understand pre-Civil War America.

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