Twelve Years a Slave is the immensely popular memoir of Solomon Northup, a free-born African-American who was kidnapped in Washinghton, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. He toiled on plantations in Louisiana under the harshest of conditions until his release in 1853. The 2013 film was a runaway box office success, and picked up three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The original memoir, digitally reproduced here, makes for fascinating reading.

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