"Twelve Years a Slave" is a memoir written by Solomon Northup, a free-born African American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The book chronicles Northup's experiences as a slave for twelve years in the antebellum South, primarily in Louisiana.

Northup was born in New York and was a talented musician and carpenter. He was lured to Washington, D.C. in 1841 by two men who offered him a job playing music with a circus. Once he arrived, Northup was drugged and sold into slavery.

Northup's narrative provides a detailed account of his time as a slave, including the various plantations he was forced to work on and the different owners he served under. He describes the physical and emotional abuse he endured, as well as the ways in which slaves were punished and controlled by their owners.

Northup's story also sheds light on the complex relationships between slaves...