"Twelve Years a Slave: A Narrative of Solomon Northup," was written by Solomon Northup and spans from 1841 to 1853. He was thirty-three years old the year he was kidnapped and was enslaved for twelve years. Northup found freedom and happiness with his family after suffering as a slave during the pre-Civil War era in the Deep South (US Narrative 245). This story covers the years between which Northup was a slave in Louisiana after being kidnapped in Washington, the trials he faced as a slave in Louisiana, and his rescue from slavery.
Northup mentions the treatment of women several times. When he describes working for Mr. Eldret in the " 'Big Cane Brake'" he mentions "lumberwomen" from the "forests of the South" (Northup 48). He mentions that they are equal to men in the amount of labor that they are able and forced to do, and that there were some plantation owners who had nothing but women slaves. He later writes of Patsey, a slave who feared the jealousy of her master's wife. Northup notes that she was "the enslaved victim of lust and hate" (Northup 57). .
When a child was born to a slave woman and a white man, the child was not considered a free white but an enslaved black,.
because the role of the mother determined the child's fate (Chandler). When Northup mentions Emily, he notes that she is " of light complexion, and with a face of admirable beauty" (Northup 17). Emily was the daughter of a slave woman and her white master and was valued by the slave trader Burch. It was not uncommon for black women to be raped by their masters, and some would even get married as in the case with Eliza, and produce mixed race children (US Narrative 255). Northup also notes the condition of Armsby, a white man who became so low that he ended up working with the slaves in the field. .
Although approximately 500,000 poor whites in the Old South sometimes lived just as desperately and unhealthy as the black slaves, they refused to vouch for slaves or fight for their freedom (US Narrative 252).
