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12 Years a Slave

The United States of America, a country that today has an economic and cultural impact
on people all over the world, was built on the foundations of not only countless civilizations, but
also historical revolutions, crises, and battles. "Slavery" has undoubtedly been one of the most
controversial and disagreeable themes in American history. History, as an essential and
inseparable component of culture, must be understood in order to understand a nation's dynamic
culture. The goal of this essay is to examine the film 12 Years of a Slave, based on the true story
of Solomon Northup and directed by Steve McQueen, in order to reflect both historical and
cultural aspects of the United States during the pre-Civil War era, specifically racism, the
economic and cultural structure of the Southern states in the 1840s, and sexism.

The story is about an African-American man named Solomon Northup and the harshness
and tragic events he faced during his 12 years of labor in the United States of America, according
to the critical analysis page on 12 Years a Slave. Solomon Northup was a freeborn and married
black man who resided with his family in Saragota Springs, New York. He was a well-known
member of the community. Despite coming from a free middle-class family, he was accepted as
a violinist. He was well-liked and respected by his white neighbors in upstate New York, the
country's northernmost region. He awoke one morning at the Williams Slave Pen in Washington,
D.C., where he had been tricked, drugged, and kidnapped for the slave trade. The film's black
hostility and racism were clear throughout, beginning with Solomon's awakening in the slave
enclosure in that moment. Despite his claims to have been born free, slave merchants whipped
Solomon Northup with a wooden paddle. As a result, Solomon was forced to abandon his
attempts to restore his freedom and return to slavery. Because of the prejudiced and aggressive
attitude of slaver merchants, there was no such thing as a "damn nigger" having a claim to
freedom, which is why not only him, but all Afro-Americans, should be considered slaves. White
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supremacy views maintained that African Americans were born into slavery and deserved it,
resulting in humiliation and physical brutality against them. The majority of Southerners
believed that Afro-Americans were born to serve as inferiors to their white overlords.

The picture not only displayed stunning racial images, but also demonstrated the South's
economic and cultural framework in the 1840s, thanks in part to the 12 Years a Slave
argumentation pieces. On the other hand, it was widely assumed that the Civil War was the result
of a dispute between Northern and Southern states over slavery. The economies of the two
regions diverged greatly due to differences in industry and agriculture between the North and
South. When compared to the northern states, the South relied largely on slave labor, earning it
the moniker "slave state." The film depicts the Southern expectation that a cotton plantation
owner would own a slave. At the time, the North and South had diametrically opposed societal
perspectives. Consider the differences between Solomon Northup's experiences as a free black
man in the North and as a submissive "property" in the South. Male and female slaves were
evaluated between 29:17 and 32:10 to determine whether they were attractive, healthy, or
powerful enough to be sold for a reasonable price as a useless commodity, or "property," as
Master Epp, who is a plantation owner rather than a human being in the film, refers to them as.
Cotton plantations with large slave populations became a cultural norm in the South, and
acceptance and demand for slave labor rose in lockstep with the region's population expansion.
The essay from 12 Years a Slave vividly described the history and economy of the South in the
1840s, as well as the region's cultural traits.

Works Cited