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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
[T]he law says you have the right to hold a n[—], but begging the law's pardon, it lies. Yes, Epps, when the law says that it's a liar, and the truth is not in it. Is every thing right because the law allows it?To be drawn towards black authors during Black History Month is a given, I hope, even with the considerations of the shortest month of the year in tandem with the media swamp that is the Winter Olympics. The fulfillment of such intentions on a casual basis, however, is anything but the fruit of casual labor, as it has taken me years to first take head of the imbalance, secondly to seek out, thirdly to acquire, and finally to engage with a litany of writing that has always been in the cross-hairs of its truncated country of origin. There is nothing natural about Solomon Northrup's living to compose the tail, so there is nothing natural about the obligation of all the citizens of the United States to engage with such narratives out of the duty of ensuring their country is fit to call itself civilized after centuries of masquerading as such with white hoods in the closet and lighter fluid in the trunk. Otherwise, what we have during Black History Month is a land full of infants blithely spurning the past, passively entitled to the present, and squawlingly grasping at the future, as if what once was will never come again, and a mere piece of paper some like to call the Constitution that once justified slavery could never justify it again.
TYaS is one of those rare books wherein I viewed the film before I read the text, drawn in as white US folks tend to be to watching black people only through slavery and/or other associated acts of torture porn. This habit spreads its tentacles into other media wherein the one black character is the first to be maimed/murdere/disappeared and had forced me to be more selective about my filmic appetites, leaving the mainstream award winning favorites for "The Force Awakens", "Get Out", and "Black Panther", where black pain does not exist for the sake of white gaze torture and/or tragedy porn. I believe that the TYaS movie was necessary, but it shouldn't have taken 170+ years for it to win international recognition for being made, and half a decade after the film's release, what, exactly, as changed. I'm sure that on a micro-scale there are plenty of success stories, but the legacy of slavery remains so long as reparations are unpaid, and all the country has done on that scale is elect a president is more likely to pull a former colonial power and demand reparations from those who were brutalized for centuries in the first place than make any sort of truly humane decision. So long as this is the case, representation is never the facile white liberal fantasy of individual psychology and individual mental health and individual empowerment. Representation is incontrovertible proof that one survived the system that was born and has been maintained in order to murder and maim and terrify into submission on a comprehensively national level, and when one sees themselves in a place one thought would be closed off by rape and lynching and the magical breaking of one's neck in the backseat of a cop car, one knows the path, in at least one instance, is safe. Representation is not progress. Representation is the canary in the mine, and it is always meant to be the first to go.
There's a few weeks before Black History Month 2018 is through, and I aim to get at least two or more relevant works under my belt. The year goes on, and my future pathway is still not completely ironed out, and I have to wonder whether int he end, I'll be relieved to find out what my fate will be. In any case, I'm working on broadening my horizons so as to maintain my reading appetites in a more sustaining environment, whether it be as grad student or librarian. In either case, I will be promoting the reading of TYaS and other such material, as it is unacceptable that the situation requires such reading as fervently as it did 50, 100, 150 years ago. Another five years may pass. What, exactly, will change?
Until they have been chained and beaten—until they find themselves in the situation I was, borne away from home and family towards a land of bondage—let them refrain from saying what they would not do for liberty.
I revisited Uncle Tom's Cabin, while reading this book and felt the same horror that I felt as a child at human capacity to mete out pain to another fellow human. Only this was not a fiction based on the practice of Slavery but a first hand experience of an enslaved man. The somewhat impassive and objective narrative of the worst experiences that Solomon Northrup experienced during his captive years was something interesting to note. He wrote it after his ordeal and it felt like he had already distanced himself from all the horror of the twelve years of slavery, degradation and pain that he endured at the hands of his owners, namely Tibeat and Epps. I think he needed to achieve this distance from the inhuman treatment he received to continue his 'normal' life with his family and friends. At the end of the day, Solomon was amongst the few lucky ones who happened to be born in a 'free state' as a free man, happened to come across an abolitionist in the deep South, happened to be found by his well wishers and released from captivity. After I finished the book, my thoughts stayed with the fate of Patsey, Uncle Abram and the others with whom Solomon spent his 10 years under the cruel Master Epps. Did they finally get their deliverance through death? The language of this book, written in 1853, needed a little getting used to. I had to reread some sentences twice to get the full meaning of it all. But it did not stand in the way of comprehending or investing oneself in the life of Northrup, the other 'children of Africa' that he met during his years in the South, the mindset of the white masters, the relation between the slave and his 'owner', the white man's conception of the black man's capacities in that era.
A disturbing read but perhaps a necessary one to see how far we have come from the days of extreme racial discrimination and also how far we still have to go.
A disturbing read but perhaps a necessary one to see how far we have come from the days of extreme racial discrimination and also how far we still have to go.
This is, perhaps, the most heart-wrenching book I have ever read in my life. I cannot imagine being forced to endure what Solomon Northup faced. This is a first-hand account of America's shameful past. it is written "matter of factly" and uses actual names and events. I had a hard time reading most of it, but I'm glad that I did. This book is definitely a must read!
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Audio. Being audio may be what’s affecting my grading. This is an incredible autobiography of a black free man being taken into slavery. For a book said to have shook the world, having been written right after Uncle Toms Cabin changed many’s eyes on slavery, it was heavy. Solomon Northup learns ways to survive being a “dumb slave” while actually being an educated free man. Just this point, and how it brought up, was a lot to take it. Which was the same for a lot of the story. The story is slow going, and does feel like it matches with its publishing year (1841). Gives a new perspective to how slavery was viewed. The slow writing and lackadaisical tone was but difficult to keep up with as an audio, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Like Solomon at the end of his narrative, I am at a loss for comment at this moment.
I had never heard of this book until I saw the recent, Oscar-winning film adaptation. This is a powerful and well told story that I found captivating and riveting from start to finish. I wish this weren't true. I wish the institution of slavery had never happened and that a book like this never had to exist. Unfortunately, it did and that means we have to deal with it and admit our own complicity in it. Much like Roots, this book gives us an unvarnished and unexaggerated picture of just how evil and insidious slavery was and is and continues to be. Solomon Northup proves he is a good writer and well equipped to tell this incredibly personal story. He doesn't shy away from the more brutal elements of his story but instead just tells it as he experienced it.
I sincerely hope the movie causes more people to pick up and read this great book. Solomon's story deserves to be heard by more people. Is the book better than the movie? I can't say as they are both excellent and both tell the exact same story with few exceptions. Are they both worth your time? Yes, very much. Read this book and then share it with your friends. More people need to know and hear this story. You won't be disappointed, I promise you that.
I sincerely hope the movie causes more people to pick up and read this great book. Solomon's story deserves to be heard by more people. Is the book better than the movie? I can't say as they are both excellent and both tell the exact same story with few exceptions. Are they both worth your time? Yes, very much. Read this book and then share it with your friends. More people need to know and hear this story. You won't be disappointed, I promise you that.
This should be taught in schools as a mandatory read. Hearing the stories of actual events from a real slave was incredibly interesting but also at the same time a reminder of just how awful things were for a subset of persons in our country.
