Northup Solomon - Twelve Years a Slave

Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is 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 cotton plantation. After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.--Page [4] of cover.;General editor essay / Henry Louis Gates Jr -- Introduction / Ira Berlin -- Suggestions for further reading -- Twelve Years A Slave: -- Editors Preface -- Chapter 1: -- Introductory -- Ancestry -- Northup family -- Birth and parentage -- Mintus Northup -- Marriage with Anne Hampton -- Good Resolutions -- Champlain canal -- Rafting excursion to Canada -- Farming -- Violin -- Cooking -- Removal to Saratoga -- Parker and Perry -- Slaves and slavery -- Children -- Beginning of sorrow -- Chapter 2: -- Two strangers -- Circus company -- Departure from Saratoga -- Ventriloquism and legerdemain -- Journey to New York -- Free papers -- Brown and Hamilton -- Haste to reach the circus -- Arrival in Washington -- Funeral of Harrison -- Sudden sickness -- Torment of thirst -- Receding light -- Insensibility -- Chains and darkness -- Chapter 3: -- Painful meditations -- James H Burch -- Williams slave pen in Washington -- Lackey, Radburn -- Assert my freedom -- Anger of the trader -- Paddle and cat-o-ninetails -- Whipping -- New acquaintances -- Ray, Williams, and Randall -- Arrival of little Emily and her mother in the pen -- Maternal sorrows -- Story of Eliza -- Chapter 4: -- Elizas sorrows -- Preparation to embark -- Driven through the streets of Washington -- Hail, Columbia -- Tomb of Washington -- Clem Ray -- Breakfast on the streamer -- Happy birds -- Aquia Creek -- Fredericksburgh -- Arrival in Richmond -- Goodin and his slave pen -- Robert, of Cincinnati -- David and his wife -- Mary and Lethe -- Clems return -- His subsequent escape to Canada -- Brig Orleans -- James H Burch -- Chapter 5: -- Arrival at Norfolk -- Frederick and Maria -- Arthur, the freeman -- Appointed steward -- Jim, Cuffee, and Jenny -- Storm -- Bahama Banks -- Calm -- Conspiracy -- Long-boat -- Small-pox -- Death of Robert -- Manning, the sailor -- Meeting in the forecastle -- Letter -- Arrival at New Orleans -- Arthurs rescue -- Theophilus Freeman, the consignee -- Platt -- First night in the New Orleans slave pen -- Chapter 6: -- Freemans industry -- Cleanliness and clothes -- Exercising in the show room -- Dance -- Bob, the fiddler -- Arrival of customers -- Slaves examined -- Old gentleman of New Orleans -- Sale of David, Caroline and Lethe -- Parting of Randal and Eliza -- Small-pox -- Hospital -- Recovery and return to Freemans slave pen -- Purchaser of Eliza, Harry, and Platt -- Elizas agony on parting from little Emily -- Streamboat Rodolph -- Departure from New Orleans -- William Ford -- Arrival at Alexandria, on Red River -- Resolutions -- Great Pine Woods -- Wild cattle -- Martins summer residence -- Texas road -- Arrival at Master Fords -- Rose -- Mistress Ford -- Sally, and her children -- John, the cook -- Walter, Sam, and Antony -- Mills on Indian Creek -- Sabbath days -- Sams conversion -- Profit of kindness -- Rafting -- Adam Taydem, the little white man -- Cascalla and his tribe -- Indian Ball -- John M Tibets -- Storm approaching -- Chapter 8: -- Fords embarrassments -- Sale to Tibests -- Chattel mortgage -- Mistress Fords plantation on Bayou Boeuf -- Description of the latter -- Fords brother-in-law, Peter Tanner -- Meeting with Eliza -- She still mourns for her children -- Fords overseer, Chapin -- Tibeats abuse -- Keg of nails -- First fight with Tibeats -- His discomfiture and castigation -- Attempt to hang me -- Chapins interference and speech -- Unhappy reflections -- Abrupt departure of Tibeats, Cook and Ramsay -- Lawson and the brown mule -- Message to the pine woods -- Chapter 9: -- Hot sun -- Yet bound -- Cords sink into my flesh -- Chapins uneasiness -- Speculation -- Rachel, and her cup of water -- Suffering increases -- Happiness of slavery -- Arrival of Ford -- He cuts the Cords which bind me, and takes the rope from my neck -- Misery -- Gathering of the slaves in Elizas cabin -- Their kindness -- Rachel repeats the occurrences of the day -- Lawson entertains his companions with an account of his ride -- Chapins apprehensions of Tibeats -- Hired to Peter Tanner -- Peter expounds the scriptures -- Description of the stocks -- Chapter 10: -- Return to Tibeats -- Impossibility of pleasing him -- He attacks me with a hatchet -- Struggle over the broad-axe -- Temptation to murder him -- Escape across the plantation -- Observations from the fence -- Tibeats approaches, followed by the hounds -- They take my track -- Their loud yells -- They almost overtake me -- I reach the water -- Hounds confused -- Moccasin snakes -- Alligators -- Night in the Great Pacoudrie Swamp -- Sounds of life -- North-West course -- Emerge into the pine woods -- Slave and his young master -- Arrival at Fords -- Food and rest -- Chapter 11: -- Mistress garden -- Crimson and golden fruit -- Orange and pomegranate tress -- Return to Bayou Beouf -- Master Fords remarks on the way -- Meeting with Tibeats -- His account of the chase -- Ford censures his brutality -- Arrival at the plantation -- Astonishment of the slaves on seeing me -- Anticipated flogging -- Kentucky John -- Mr Eldret, the planter -- Eldrets Sam -- Trip to the big cane brake -- Tradition of Suttons Field -- Forest trees -- Gnats and mosquitoes -- Arrival of black women in the big cane -- Lumber women -- Sudden appearances of Tibeats -- His provoking treatment -- Visit to Bayou Boeuf -- Slave pass -- Southern hospitality -- Last of Eliza -- Sale to Edwin Epps.;Chapter 12: -- Personal appearance of Epps -- Epps, drunk and sober -- Glimpse of his history -- Cotton growing -- Mode of ploughing and preparing ground -- Of planting -- Of hoeing, of picking, of treating raw hands -- Difference in cotton pickers -- Patsey a remarkable one -- Tasked according to ability -- Beauty of cotton field -- Slaves labors -- Fear on approaching the Gin-house -- Weighting -- Chores -- Cabin life -- Corn mill -- Uses of the gourd -- Fear of oversleeping -- Fear continually -- Mode of cultivating corn -- Sweet potatoes -- Fertility of the soil -- Fattening hogs -- Preserving bacon -- Raising cattle -- Shooting -- Matches -- Garden products -- Flowers and verdure -- Chapter 13: -- Curious Axe-helve -- Symptoms of approaching illness -- Continue to decline -- Whip ineffectual -- Confined to the cabin -- Visit by Dr Wines -- Partial recovery -- Failure at cotton picking -- What may be heard on Epps plantation -- Lashes graduated -- Epps in a Whipping mood -- Epps in a dancing mood -- Description of the dance -- Loss of rest no excuse -- Epps characteristics -- Jim Burns -- Removal from Huff Power to Bayou Boeuf -- Description of Uncle Abram; of Wiley; of Aunt Phebe; of Bob, Henry, and Edward; of Patsey; with a genealogical account of each -- Something of their past history, and peculiar characteristics -- Jealousy and lust -- Patsey, the victim -- Chapter 14: -- Destruction of the cotton crop in 1845 -- Demand for laborers in St Marys Parish -- Sent thither in a drove -- Order of the march -- Grand Coteau -- Hired to Judge Turner on Bayou Salle -- Appointed driver in his sugar house -- Sunday services -- Slave furniture; how obtained -- Party at Yarneys in Centreville -- Good fortune -- Captain of the steamer -- His refusal to secret me -- Return to Bayou Boeuf -- Sight of Tibeats -- Patseys sorrows -- Tumult and contention -- Hunting the coon and opossum -- Cunning of the latter -- Lean condition of the slave -- Description of the fish trap -- Murder of the man from Natchez -- Epps challenged by Marshall -- Influence of slavery -- Love of freedom -- Chapter 15: -- Labors on sugar plantations -- Mode of planting cane -- Of hoeing cane -- Cane ricks -- Cutting cane -- Description of the cane knife -- Winrowing -- Preparing for succeeding crops -- Description of Hawkins sugar mill on Bayou Boeuf -- Christmas holidays -- Carnival season of the children of bondage -- Christmas supper -- Red, the favorite color -- Violin, and the consolation it afforded -- Christmas dance -- Lively, the coquette -- Sam Roberts, and his rivals -- Slave songs -- Southern life as it is -- Three days in the year -- System of marriage -- Uncle Abrams contempt of matrimony -- Chapter 16: -- Overseers -- How they are armed and accompanied -- Homicide -- His execution at Marksville -- Slave-drivers -- Appointed driver on removing to Bayou Boeuf -- Practice make perfect -- Epps attempt to cut Platts throat -- Escape from him -- Protected by the mistress -- Forbids reading and writing -- Obtain a sheet of paper after nine years effort -- Letter -- Armsby, the mean white -- Partially confide in him -- His treachery -- Epps suspicions -- How they were quieted -- Burning the letter -- Armsby leaves the Bayou -- Disappointment and despair -- Chapter 17: -- Wiley disregards the counsels of Aunt Phebe and Uncle Abram, and is caught by the patrollers -- Organization and duties of the latter -- Wiley runs away -- Speculations in regard to him -- His unexpected return -- His capture on Red River, and confinement in Alexandria jail -- Discovered by Joseph B Roberts -- Subduing dogs in anticipation of escape -- Fugitives in the great pine woods -- Captured by Adam Taydem and the Indians -- Augustus killed by dogs -- Nelly, Eldrets slave woman -- Story of Celeste -- Concerted movement -- Lew Cheney, the traitor -- Idea of insurrection -- Chapter 18: -- ONeil, the tanner -- Conversation with Aunt Phebe overheard -- Epps in the tanning business -- Stabbing of Uncle Abram -- Ugly wound -- Epps is jealous -- Patsey missing -- Her return from Shaws -- Harriet, Shaws black wife -- Epps enraged -- Patsey denies his charges -- She is tied down naked to four stakes -- Inhuman flogging -- Flaying of Patsey -- Beauty of the day -- Bucket of salt water -- Dress stiff with blood -- Patsey grows melancholy -- Her idea of god and eternity -- Of heaven and freedom -- Effect of slave-whipping -- Epps oldest son -- Child is father to the man -- Chapter 19: -- Avery, of Bayou Rouge -- Peculiarity of dwellings -- Epps builds a new house -- Bass, the carpenter -- His noble qualities -- His personal appearance and eccentricities -- Bass and Epps discuss the question of slavery -- Epps opinion of Bass -- I make myself known to him -- Our conversation -- His surprise -- Midnight meeting on the Bayou bank -- Bass assurances -- Declares war against slavery -- Why I did not disclose my history -- Bass writes letters -- Copy of his letter to Messrs Parker and Perry -- Fever of suspense -- Disappointments -- Bass endeavors to cheer me -- My faith in him -- Chapter 20: -- Bass faithful to his word -- His arrival on Christmas Eve -- Difficulty of obtaining an interview -- Meeting in the cabin -- Non-arrival of the letter -- Bass announces his intention to proceed North -- Christmas -- Conversation between Epps and bass -- Young Mistress McCoy, the beauty of Bayou Boeuf -- Ne plus ultra of dinners -- Music and dancing -- Presence of the Mistress -- Her exceeding beauty -- Last slave dance -- William Pierce -- Oversleep myself -- Last whipping -- Despondency -- Cold morning -- Epps threats -- Passing carriage -- Strangers approaching through the cotton field -- Last hour on Bayou Boeuf -- Chapter 21: -- Letter reaches Saratoga -- Is forwarded to Anne -- Is laid before Henry B Northup -- Statute of May 14, 1840 -- Its provisions -- Annes memorial to the governor -- Affidavits accompanying it -- Senator Soules letter -- Departure of the agent appointed by the governor -- Arrival at Marksville -- Hon John P Waddill -- Conversation on New York politics -- It suggests a fortunate idea -- Meeting with Bass -- Secret out -- Legal proceedings instituted -- Departure of Northup and the sheriff from Marksville for Bayou Boeuf -- Arrangements on the way -- Reach Epps plantation -- Discover his slaves in the cotton field -- Meeting -- Farewell -- Chapter 22: -- Arrival in New Orleans -- Glimpse of Freeman -- Genois, the recorder -- His description of Solomon -- Reach Charleston -- Interrupted by custom house officers -- Pass through Richmond -- Arrival in Washington -- Burch arrested -- Shekels and thorn -- Their testimony -- Burch acquitted -- Arrest of Solomon -- Burch withdraws the complaint -- Higher tribunal -- Departure from Washington -- Arrival at Sandy Hill -- Old friends and familiar scenes -- Proceed to Glens Falls -- Meeting with Anne, Margaret, and Elizabeth -- Solomon Northup Staunton -- Incidents -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Index.