Twelve Years a Slave recounts the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup, a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped and unlawfully sold into slavery in 1841. Enduring unimaginable cruelty and brutal, exhausting labor on Louisiana plantations, Northup never surrendered his desperate hope of regaining his freedom and returning to his family.After more than a decade of agonizing bondage, a chance encounter with a sympathetic Canadian carpenter finally paved the way for his rescue, leading to the publication of this monumental, world-changing narrative.