An extraordinary story of resilience and hope A free man, who is a hard-working farmer, ends up in bondage serving under various masters. His struggle for survival and freedom consumes 12 years of hisife. His only "folly'? He was a man of colour. 12 Years a Slave is one of the best slave narratives ever penned down, it was adapted into a movie by the same name in 2013 and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Drama). The book was first published in 1853, three years after the Fugitive Slave Act. Solomon Northup's narrative acted as an important cultural symbol of slaveife on southern plantations in America before the Civil War.