12 years a slave

This week I'm going to write about the movie 12 years a slave,if you haven't heard of it, it's about a free man who one day gets kidnapped and sold into slavery. His name was Solomon Northup he was born July 10 1807 in Minerva, Essex county, New York, USA. The actor that played him in the movie was Chiwetel Ejiofor he was born July 10, 1977 in Forest Gate, London, England, UK. Solomon was tricked by two men who had heard of his musical talents and told him they were looking for someone with his talents for the circus. Then they kidnapped him and sold him into slavery. Solomon was an incredible violinist he has played ever since he was a little boy. After he was sold his name was changed from Solomon Northup to Platt Hamilton. In the movie they say Solomon had a wife a son and a daughter but in real life he had a wife named Anne (Hampton) Northup a daughter named Margaret and their son Alonzo who were shown in the film but their other daughter Elizabeth was left out. Edwin  Epps was one of the cruelest in my opinion because he would go through these moods sometimes he would go through a dancing mood where he would make exhausted slaves dance for fun, he also had a whipping mood this mood mostly came when he was drunk and he would just whip them for fun. Samuel Bass was responsible for Solomon release he has written a letter to New York and it had eventually caught the attention of a New York Whig attorney Henry B. Northup who so happened to be a relative of Solomon's father former Master. Henry was a part of the family that took in Solomon's father when he was freed. Honestly it's really upsetting to know that people were treated like that just because of the skin color. Thanks to people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, African American's and Caucasians now have equal rights.

Chiwetel Ejiofor                Solomon Northup



 

 

 

 

 

Links 

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/12-years-a-slave.php

If you would like some more information on Solomon Northup and his life go check out this web site there's a whole bunch of interesting information.