Solomon Northup

I was way ahead on reading Battle Cry of Freedom for my Civil War reading group, so I decided to take a break and read something related. I'd been meaning to read this since seeing the heart-breaking movie, and as I'd found a nice copy at my favorite used bookstore last year, this seemed an obvious choice.

I thought the movie did a fairly good job of keeping faithful to the book, so most of the horrors of this story were already familiar. So what impressed me most in this reading were show more Northup's remarkable insights into the people around him -- both the slaves who have known such treatment their entire lives, but also the slave owners. Some of his observations of the very real cost to their humanity by the brutalities they have inflicted and/or witnessed as members of the slave-holding class struck me. Northup wasn't just a man thrust into extraordinary circumstances -- he was clearly himself extraordinary, as a writer and observer, to be able to produce such an account. show less

Hard to rate something like this. I certainly cannot rate for enjoyment. Reading this made me burn in anger and my eyes water. Despite the cruel, dehumanizing events, this was not an easy read, but it was easy to read. It only takes a few times to get used to Northup’s manner of speaking. I almost read it all in one sitting.

In light of recent events, those who say “This is not who America is,” surely have their head in the ground. Of course, this place can be better—should be show more better—but it was built on mass racism, enslavement, and genocide.

Anyway, I’m glad to have seen this in book form because I certainly could not have seen it visually. show less

very enjoyable read, -- if that isn't too insouciant for the narrative of a man who was deceived, drugged, abducted, and sold into human slavery. hmm. what i mean is that its language is intelligible to a modern reader and the story itself is interesting in a manner quite apart from the "dear jesus this poor man" sort of way.

Northup clearly omitted a good amount of his fury and fear and humiliations, which is totally normal for what i've read of slave narratives -- they tend to understate show more things, probably to ward off any accusation of exaggerating for sympathy -- and it makes the story sound very terse and clipped. I would not say that it's less effective for that.

The number of (white) people who helped Northup get free again, who believed him and put their own necks on the line, is heartening and gutwrenching. Each individual person could only do so much against the great grinding gears, and most of them could do very little indeed.

I didn't know that there was a tidy business in abducting free (black) men and selling them, although it seems obvious now. Like, duh. Of course there was. Of course there still is (hello, prison pipeline). Times change but people do not.

Shitty as what happened to Solomon was, he's one of the lucky ones: he got away.

I can't stop thinking about poor Patsey. show less

Like most people who read this in the past 10 years, I saw the movie and only now picked up the book, something I’ve been meaning to do for years. As someone too late in the college game to properly study American folk cultures, I find a lot of interest in slave narratives, and this one was very solid, moving, but somehow challenging.

Something that really struck me while reading this was historical relativism. Solomon abhors slavery, but still finds it in himself to somewhat excuse the show more character of his first owner by emphasizing the good christianity of the man. Later, the avid abolitionist who helps secure his freedom by risking all laws to travel across the country to ensure that comfortably uses the n-word. This was one of those authentic old-timey first person pov stories that made me realize how damn different the past was, especially morally.

I’m so glad Solomon was able to be freed and then be able to write about it and publish it. It is all so powerful and sobering. The song he transcribed at the end was ❤️ show less