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Solomon Northup - 12 Years a Slave

Episode 2

Duration: 15 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 Extra

Extracts from the powerful memoir which inspired Steve McQueen's Oscar nominated film of the same title.

Solomon Northup was a free man who worked as a carpenter in the state of New York. In 1841, two circus promoters offered him a high-paying job and he travelled south with them to Washington D.C. Soon after arriving in the capital, he was drugged, beaten and sold into slavery. Threatened with murder should he ever reveal what had happened, he spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity in Louisiana.

After his rescue, Northup was reunited with his family and went on to publish this eloquent and important memoir. It was an immediate bestseller.

Reader: Rhashan Stone

Abridger: Robin Brooks

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron. Show less

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