Now the major motion picture that won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starringChiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, andLupita Nyong o, and directed by Steve McQueen

Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slaveis a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana...

Born a free man in New York State in 1808, Solomon Northup was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841. He spent the next 12 years as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation, during this time he was frequently abused and often afraid for his life.

Three accounts of the lives of famous slaves
This unique Leonaur book brings together three remarkable accounts of slavery and escapes to freedom by African women and men in the United States and West Indies during the 19th century. The first account, written by William and Ellen Craft, recounts the incredible and epic escape by a husband and wife who, recognising that Mrs. Craft was so pale skinned that she could pass for a person of European origin, devised the innovative plan of posing as a young male planter master and his slave. The second story, that of Bermudan born Mary Prince,...

Three accounts of the lives of famous slaves
This unique Leonaur book brings together three remarkable accounts of slavery and escapes to freedom by African women and men in the United States and West Indies during the 19th century. The first account, written by William and Ellen Craft, recounts the incredible and epic escape by a husband and wife who, recognising that Mrs. Craft was so pale skinned that she could pass for a person of European origin, devised the innovative plan of posing as a young male planter master and his slave. The second story, that of Bermudan born Mary Prince,...

Solomon Northup was a free born African American but was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup gained his freedom in 1853 and wrote a famous account of his twelve years as a slave. Northup's book was made into a critically acclaimed movie in 2013.

The slave narrative is a literary sub-genre that emerged from the written accounts of enslaved Africans in Great Britain and its colonies, including the later United States, Canada, and Caribbean nations. 'Twelve Years a Slave' by Solomon Northup is perhaps the most famous example of the genre and was the basis for the acclaimed 2012 film.

Twelve years a slave - 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.