# data[].attributes.body
Watch THIS VIDEO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Comment et pourquoi utiliser le prétérit simple en anglais.

# data[].attributes.headline
SLAVERY MISTREATMENTS                              vocab + passive voice                      

# data[].attributes.subject
SLAVERY MISTREATMENTS                              vocab + passive voice                      

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Associe l'image à la phrase qui lui correspond.

# data[].attributes.body
A short video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
VOA Learning English presents news, features, audio, video and multimedia about the U.S. and the world in American English. Stories are written at the intermediate and upper-beginner level. Words are spoken one-third slower for ESL learners.

# data[].attributes.headline
An interactive book with activities (pronunciation -ED)

# data[].attributes.subject
An interactive book with activities (pronunciation -ED)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Collège Marc Chagall - Interactive Book - Past Simple

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Un livre interactif pour apprendre à parler de sa naissance et du passé en général. Le livre présente une première introduction aux verbes irréguliers ! didapages@pastsimple@

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SLAVERY (definitions) Flashcards | Quizlet

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Start studying SLAVERY (definitions). Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

# data[].attributes.headline
Listen to Fountain Hughes talking about his life as a slave

# data[].attributes.subject
Listen to Fountain Hughes talking about his life as a slave

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
international relations and national security

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fountain Hughes was born a slave in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is his story, in his own words.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Game to practice irregular verbs and the simple past tense. - This new game works across all devices and develops Irregular verbs vocabulary.

This game replaces the previous game which is now phased out. The old game had the following description:

Irregular Past Tense ESL Grammar Jeopardy Quiz Game

Practice Irregular Past Tense using this ESL Jeopardy game.This game is also excellent for classroom teaching.

Games are great for motivating students to learn. By playing our fun educational games, students can practice and review key English vocabulary, grammar and sentences without the boredom which is usually encountered when doing paper-based gap-fill exercises. Play the game below and do not hesitate to share these resources with other learners. This is the philosophy behind our site - www.eslgamesplus.com.

Teachers can engage students in a classroom vocabulary review for elementary ESL, EFL Learners. It can be used to energize a dull class, to review work that was done or simply as a reward for good classroom work. Fun activity to teach action verbs in the irregular past simple tense It is especially useful for teaching ESL intermediate learning and teaching. Have fun teaching and learning English!

More Games

Learning irregular verbs and the past tense can be a challenge for English language learners, but it's an important part of developing their language skills. That's why we have created a fun and engaging game called Monkey Pirate Game to help children practice these concepts in a fun and interactive way.

In this game, players join the pirate monkey on his quest to find treasure. Along the way, they will encounter various irregular verbs in their past tense form, and they must choose the correct answer from the options given. With colorful graphics and engaging gameplay, Monkey Pirate Game will keep kids entertained while also helping them learn.

Through this game, children will not only learn the correct past tense form of irregular verbs, but they will also reinforce their vocabulary skills. The game is designed to be accessible across all devices, making it easy to use in the classroom or at home.

Overall, Monkey Pirate Game is a great tool for kids who are learning English as a second language. It provides a fun and interactive way to practice important grammar and vocabulary concepts, making language learning more engaging and effective.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Irregular Past Tense ESL Grammar Jeopardy Quiz Game

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Practice Irregular Past Tense using this ESL Jeopardy game.This game is also excellent for classroom teaching. Teachers can engage students in a classroom vocabulary review for elementary ESL, EFL Learners. It can be used to energize a dull class, to review work that was done or simply as a reward for good classroom work.

# data[].attributes.headline
Put the verbs into the simple past: more exercises

# data[].attributes.subject
Put the verbs into the simple past: more exercises

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by John Ridley, based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, an African-American who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery. He was put to work on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before being released. The first scholarly edition of Wilson's version of Northup's story was co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon.

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong'o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held.

12 Years a Slave received widespread critical acclaim and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets and critics, and it earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million. The film received nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black British producer to ever receive the award and the first black British director of a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best Actor for Ejiofor. The film was later named the 44th greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics in 2016.

Solomon Northup is a free African-American man in 1841, working as a violinist and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician in Washington, D.C.; instead, they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen. Northup proclaims his freedom, only to be savagely beaten.

Northup is shipped to New Orleans along with other captives. He is told by the others that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt. A slave trader named Theophilus Freeman gives Northup the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. Ford takes a liking to Northup and gives him a violin. Growing tension between Northup and plantation carpenter John Tibeats finally breaks when Northup physically defends himself from Tibeats and beats him with his own whip. Tibeats and his men prepare to lynch Northup, but they are stopped by the plantation overseer. Northup is left on tiptoes with the noose around his neck for hours before Ford arrives and cuts him down. To save Northup's life, Ford sells him to Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain his situation, but Ford does not help him.

Epps is ruthless and sadistic. Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave and Epps' top cotton picker. Epps regularly rapes Patsey while his wife abuses and humiliates her out of jealousy. Some time later, cotton worms destroy Epps' crops, so he leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbor's anniversary celebration and to keep his earnings. When Northup returns to Epps, he uses the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer, Armsby, to mail a letter to his friends in New York. Armsby agrees and accepts Northup's saved money, but immediately betrays him. A drunken Epps questions Northup at knifepoint, and Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that Armsby is lying and Epps relents. Afterwards, Northup mournfully burns the letter to prevent Epps from finding it. Some time later, Patsey is caught by Epps going to a neighboring plantation in order to acquire soap, as Mrs. Epps will not let her have any. In retaliation, Epps orders Northup to whip Patsey. Rather than risk harm to himself, Northup accepts but Epps demands he strike her harder, eventually taking the whip from Northup, and nearly whips Patsey to death. Enraged, Northup destroys his violin.

Northup begins working on the construction of a gazebo with a Canadian laborer Samuel Bass. Disturbed by Epps' open cruelty towards his slaves, Bass, citing his Christian faith, expresses his opposition to slavery and castigates Epps, earning Epps' enmity. Northup overhears the conversation and decides to reveal his kidnapping to Bass. Once again, Northup asks for help in sending his letter. Although Bass is hesitant at first because of the risk, he agrees. Not long after, the local sheriff arrives and Northup recognizes the sheriff's companion as Mr. Parker, a shopkeeper he knew in New York. As they embrace, an enraged Epps furiously protests and tries to prevent Northup from leaving only to be rebuffed. Northup bids an emotional farewell to Patsey and rides off to his freedom.

Northup returns to reconnect with his wife with their fully grown son, daughter, and his daughter's husband. He is presented with his grandson and namesake, Solomon Northup Staunton. Northup tearfully apologizes for his long absence while his family comforts him. The film's epilogue titles recount: Northup's unsuccessful suits against Brown, Hamilton, and Birch; the 1853 publication of Northup's slave narrative memoir, Twelve Years a Slave; describes his role in the abolitionist movement; and the absence of any information surrounding the details of his death and burial.

African-American history and culture scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a consultant on the film. Researcher David Fiske, a co-author of Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave, provided some material used to market the film.

Emily West, an associate professor of history at the University of Reading who specializes in the history of slavery in the U.S., said she had "never seen a film represent slavery so accurately". Reviewing the film for History Extra, the website of BBC History Magazine, she wrote: "The film starkly and powerfully unveiled the sights and sounds of enslavement - from slaves picking cotton as they sang in the fields, to the crack of the lash down people's backs. We also heard a lot about the ideology behind enslavement. Masters such as William Ford and Edwin Epps, although very different characters, both used an interpretation of Christianity to justify their ownership of slaves. They believed the Bible sanctioned slavery, and that it was their 'Christian duty' to preach the scriptures to their slaves."

Scott Feinberg wrote in The Hollywood Reporter about a September 22 article in The New York Times that "dredged up and highlighted a 1985 essay by another scholar, James Olney, that questioned the 'literal truth' of specific incidents in Northup's account and suggested that David Wilson, the white amanuensis to whom Northup had dictated his story, had taken the liberty of sprucing it up to make it even more effective at rallying public opinion against slavery." Olney had observed that "slave autobiographies, when read one next to another, display an "overwhelming sameness." That is, though the autobiography by definition suggests a unique and personal story, that slave narratives present a genre of autobiographies that tell essentially the same story. When read in conjunction, as in this anthology, there is a distinct repetitiveness. While this repetitiveness disallows the creativity and shaping of one's personal story, as Olney argues, it was equally important for slave narratives to follow a form that corroborated with the stories of others to create a collective picture of slavery as it then existed. In fact, the "same" form presented in all of these unique and individual stories created a powerful and resounding message of the consistent evils of slavery and the necessity of its demise."

A journal article published by The Johns Hopkins University Press and written by Sam Worley states that "Northup's narrative, though well known, has often been treated as a narrative of the second rank, albeit one with an unusually exciting and involving story as well as, thanks to the research of its modern editors, Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, one with considerable historical value."

Noah Berlatsky wrote in The Atlantic about a scene in McQueen's adaptation. Shortly after Northup's kidnapping, he is sent on a slave ship. One of the sailors attempts to rape a female slave, but is stopped by a male slave. "The sailor unhesitatingly stabs and kills [the male slave]," he wrote, stating that "this seems unlikely on its face - slaves are valuable, and the sailor is not the owner. And, sure enough, the scene is not in the book." Berlatsky also states, "the sequence is an effort to present nuance and psychological depth - to make the film's depiction of slavery seem more real. But it creates that psychological truth by interpolating an incident that isn't factually true."

The visual blog Information is Beautiful deduced that, while taking creative license into account, the film was 88.1% accurate when compared to real-life events, summarizing: "While there are a touch of dramatic license here and there, the most gut-wrenching scenes really happened".

Forrest Wickman of wrote of Northup's book giving a more favorable account of the author's onetime master, William Ford, than the McQueen film. In Northup's own words, "There never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford," adding that Ford's circumstances "blinded [Ford] to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery." The movie, however, according to Wickham, "frequently undermines Ford." McQueen undercuts Christianity itself as well, in an effort to update the ethical lessons from Northup's story for the 21st century, by holding the institutions of Christianity up to the light for their ability to justify slavery at the time. Northup was a Christian of his time, writing of his former master being "blinded" by "circumstances" that in retrospect meant a racist acceptance of slavery despite being a Christian, a position untenable to Christians now and to Christian abolitionists of the 19th century but not contradictory to Northup himself. Valerie Elverton Dixon in The Washington Post characterized the Christianity depicted in the movie as "broken".

After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery." Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir Twelve Years a Slave. McQueen later told an interviewer:

I read this book, and I was totally stunned. At the same time, I was pretty upset with myself that I didn't know this book. I live in Amsterdam where Anne Frank is a national hero, and for me, this book read like Anne Frank's diary but written 97 years before - a firsthand account of slavery. I basically made it my passion to make this book into a film.

After a lengthy development process, during which Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment backed the project, which eventually helped get financing from various other film studios. The film was officially announced in August 2011 with McQueen to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. McQueen compared Ejiofor's conduct "of class and dignity" to that of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. In October 2011, Michael Fassbender (who starred in McQueen's previous films Hunger and ) joined the cast. In early 2012, the rest of the roles were cast, and filming was scheduled to begin at the end of June 2012.

To capture the language and dialects of the era and regions in which the film takes place, dialect coach Michael Buster assisted the cast in altering their speech. The language has a literary quality related to the style of writing of the day and the strong influence of the King James Bible. Buster explained:

We don't know what slaves sounded like in the 1840s, so I just used rural samples from Mississippi and Louisiana [for actors Ejiofor and Fassbender]. Then for Benedict [Cumberbatch], I found some real upper-class New Orleanians from the '30s. And then I also worked with Lupita Nyong'o, who is Kenyan but she did her training at Yale. So she really shifted her speech so she could do American speech.

After both won Oscars at the 86th Academy Awards, it was reported that McQueen and Ridley had been in an ongoing feud over screenplay credit. McQueen reportedly had asked Ridley for shared credit, which he declined. McQueen appealed to Fox Searchlight, which sided with Ridley. Neither thanked the other during their respective acceptance speeches at the event. Since the event, Ridley has noted his regret for not mentioning McQueen and denied the feud. He spoke favorably of working with McQueen, and explained that his sole screenplay credit was due to the rules of the Writers Guild of America. McQueen has not commented on the alleged feud.

With a production budget of $22 million, principal photography began in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 27, 2012. After seven weeks, filming concluded on August 13, 2012. As a way to keep down production costs, a bulk of the filming took place around the greater New Orleans area - mostly south of the Red River country in the north of the state, where the historic Northup was enslaved. Among locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Magnolia, a plantation in Schriever, Louisiana, is just a few miles from one of the historic sites where Northup was held. "To know that we were right there in the place where these things occurred was so powerful and emotional," said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. "That feeling of dancing with ghosts - it's palpable." Filming also took place at the Columns Hotel and Madame John's Legacy in the French Quarter of New Orleans for the scenes set in Washington D.C.

Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, the film's primary camera operator, shot 12 Years a Slave on 35 mm film with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio using both an Arricam LT and ST. "Particularly for a period piece, film gives the audience a definite sense of period and quality," said Bobbitt. "And because of the story's epic nature, widescreen clearly made the most sense. Widescreen means a big film, an epic tale - in this case an epic tale of human endurance."

The filmmakers avoided the desaturated visual style that is typical of a more gritty documentary aesthetic. Deliberately drawing visual comparisons in the filming to the works of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, McQueen explained:

When you think about Goya, who painted the most horrendous pictures of violence and torture and so forth, and they're amazing, exquisite paintings, one of the reasons they're such wonderful paintings is because what he's saying is, 'Look - look at this.' So if you paint it badly or put it in the sort of wrong perspective, you draw more attention to what's wrong with the image rather than looking at the image.

To accurately depict the time period of the film, the filmmakers conducted extensive research that included studying artwork from the era. With eight weeks to create the wardrobe, costume designer Patricia Norris collaborated with Western Costume to compile costumes that would illustrate the passage of time while also being historically accurate. Using an earth tone color palette, Norris created nearly 1,000 costumes for the film. "She [Norris] took earth samples from all three of the plantations to match the clothes," McQueen said, "and she had the conversation with Sean [Bobbitt] to deal with the character temperature on each plantation, there was a lot of that minute detail." The filmmakers also used some pieces of clothing discovered on set that were worn by slaves.

The musical score to 12 Years a Slave was composed by Hans Zimmer, with original on-screen violin music written and arranged by Nicholas Britell and performed by Tim Fain. The film also features a few pieces of western classical and American folk music such as Franz Schubert's "Trio in B-flat, D471", Daniel Dow's " Money Musk", and John and Alan Lomax's arrangement of " Run, Nigger, Run". A soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by 12 Years a Slave, was released digitally on November 5 and received a physical format release on November 11, 2013, by Columbia Records. In addition to Zimmer's score, the album features music inspired by the film by artists such as John Legend, Laura Mvula, Alicia Keys, Chris Cornell, and Alabama Shakes. Legend's cover of " Roll, Jordan, Roll" debuted online three weeks prior to the soundtrack's release.

On November 15, 2011, Summit Entertainment announced it has closed deals for the distribution of 12 Years a Slave in most international markets. In April 2012, a few weeks before principal photography, New Regency Productions agreed to co-finance the film. Because of a distribution pact between 20th Century Fox and New Regency, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film's United States distribution rights. However, instead of paying for the distribution rights, Fox Searchlight made a deal in which it would share box-office proceeds with the financiers of the independently financed film. 12 Years a Slave premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2013; it was later screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, the New York Film Festival on October 8, the New Orleans Film Festival on October 10, and the Philadelphia Film Festival on October 19. The film was commercially released on October 18, 2013 in the United States for a limited release of 19 theaters, with a wide release in subsequent weeks. The film was initially scheduled to be released in late December 2013, but "some exuberant test screenings" led to the decision to move up the release date. The film was distributed by Entertainment One in the United Kingdom.

Due to both the film's explicit nature and award contender status, 12 Years a Slave's financial success was being watched closely. Many analysts compared the film's content to other drama films of a similar vein such as Schindler's List (1993) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), which became box office successes despite their respective subject matters. "It may be a tough subject matter, but when handled well ... films that are tough to sit through can still be commercially successful," said Phil Contrino of Boxoffice Magazine. Despite its content, the film's critical success has assisted its domestic distribution by Fox Searchlight that began with a limited release aimed primarily towards art house and African-American patrons. The film's release was gradually widened in subsequent weeks, similarly to how the studio had successfully done in years prior with films such as and The Descendants. International release dates for 12 Years a Slave were largely delayed to early 2014 in order to take advantage of the attention created by awards seasons.

During its marketing campaign, 12 Years a Slave received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy. In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see 12 Years a Slave by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process. I beg all of you to take your kids, everybody to see it. ... You have to see this so you can understand, so you can just start to understand."

Following its cinematic release in theaters, the Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 4, 2014. Special features for the DVD include; a Closed Caption option, The Team - Meet the Creative Minds Assembled by Director Steve McQueen and Bring Solomon Northup's Journey to Life bonus selection, and The Score - Follow Film Composer Hans Zimmer Creating His Dramatic Score feature. In supplemental fashion, a widescreen hi-definition Blu-ray Disc version of the film was also released on the same day. Special features include; a historical portrait from Director Steve McQueen's documentary feature, cast and crew interviews, The Team special feature, and The Score selection. An additional viewing option for the film in the media format of Video on demand has been made available as well.

12 Years a Slave earned $187.7 million, including $56.7 million in the United States. During its opening limited release in the United States, 12 Years a Slave debuted with a weekend total of $923,715 on 19 screens for a $48,617 per-screen average. The following weekend, the film entered the top ten after expanding to 123 theatres and grossing an additional $2.1 million. It continued to improve into its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million at 410 locations. The film release was expanded to over 1,100 locations on November 8, 2013. In 2014, 12 Years a Slave was the 10th most-illegally downloaded movie, with 23.653 million such downloads, according to .

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 374 reviews, with an average score of 8.90/10. The site's consensus states, "It's far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave's unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant - and quite possibly essential - cinema." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 57 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is currently one of the site's highest-rated films, as well as the best-reviewed film of 2013. CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade.

Richard Corliss of wrote: "McQueen's film is closer in its storytelling particulars to such 1970s exploitation-exposés of slavery as and Goodbye, Uncle Tom. Except that McQueen is not a schlockmeister sensationalist but a remorseless artist". Corliss draws parallels with Nazi Germany, saying, "McQueen shows that racism, aside from its barbarous inhumanity, is insanely inefficient. It can be argued that Nazi Germany lost the war both because it diverted so much manpower to the killing of Jews and because it did not exploit the brilliance of Jewish scientists in building smarter weapons. So the slave owners dilute the energy of their slaves by whipping them for sadistic sport and, as Epps does, waking them at night to dance for his wife's cruel pleasure." Gregory Ellwood of HitFix gave the film an "A−" rating, stating, " 12 Years is a powerful drama driven by McQueen's bold direction and the finest performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor's career." He continued by praising the performances of Fassbender and Nyong'o, citing Nyong'o as "the film's breakthrough performance [that] may find Nyong'o making her way to the Dolby Theater next March". He also admired the film's "gorgeous" cinematography and the musical score, as "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time". Paul MacInnes of The Guardian scored the film five out of five stars, writing, "Stark, visceral and unrelenting, 12 Years a Slave is not just a great film but a necessary one." The Guardian's Andrew Pulver said, in 2017, that 12 Years a Slave is "one of the most important films about the African-American experience ever".

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised it as "a new movie landmark of cruelty and transcendence" and as "a movie about a life that gets taken away, and that's why it lets us touch what life is". He also commented very positively about Ejiofor's performance, while further stating, " 12 Years a Slave lets us stare at the primal sin of America with open eyes, and at moments it is hard to watch, yet it's a movie of such humanity and grace that at every moment, you feel you're seeing something essential. It is Chiwetel Ejiofor's extraordinary performance that holds the movie together, and that allows us to watch it without blinking. He plays Solomon with a powerful inner strength, yet he never soft-pedals the silent nightmare that is Solomon's daily existence." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, gave the film a four-star rating and said: "you won't be able to tuck this powder keg in the corner of your mind and forget it. What we have here is a blistering, brilliant, straight-up classic." He later named the film the best movie of 2013.

Manohla Dargis wrote, in her review for The New York Times, "the genius of 12 Years a Slave is its insistence on banal evil, and on terror, that seeped into souls, bound bodies and reaped an enduring, terrible price". The Daily Telegraph's Tim Robey granted the film a maximum score of five stars, stating that "it's the nobility of this remarkable film that pierces the soul", while praising Ejiofor and Nyong'o's performances. Tina Hassannia of Slant Magazine said that "using his signature visual composition and deafening sound design, Steve McQueen portrays the harrowing realism of Northup's experience and the complicated relationships between master and slave, master and master, slave and slave, and so on". David Simon, the creator of the TV series , highly praised the movie, commenting that "it marks the first time in history that our entertainment industry, albeit with international creative input, has managed to stare directly at slavery and maintain that gaze".

The film, however, was not without its criticisms. Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice was more critical of the film. While praising Ejiofor's work, she stated: "It's a picture that stays more than a few safe steps away from anything so dangerous as raw feeling. Even when it depicts inhuman cruelty, as it often does, it never compromises its aesthetic purity." Peter Malamud Smith of criticized the story, saying, " 12 Years a Slave is constructed as a story of a man trying to return to his family, offering every viewer a way into empathizing with its protagonist. Maybe we need a story framed on that individual scale in order to understand it. But it has a distorting effect all the same. We're more invested in one hero than in millions of victims; if we're forced to imagine ourselves enslaved, we want to imagine ourselves as Northup, a special person who miraculously escaped the system that attempted to crush him." Describing this as "the hero problem", Malamud Smith concluded his review explaining, "We can handle 12 Years a Slave. But don't expect 60 Years a Slave any time soon. And 200 Years, Millions of Slaves? Forget about it." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of opined that McQueen is "essentially tone-deaf when it comes to performance, and skirts by on casting". The film "lacks a necessary emotional continuity. I don't think it's something the movie is denying in the way it intentionally denies so many other conventions; it's still structured around an ending that's supposed to function as a release, but because it can't organize that sense of catharsis it so badly needs, it just feels as though McQueen is scurrying for an exit. Also: The cast is wildly uneven."

Some critics identified 12 Years a Slave as an example of the white savior narrative in film. Timothy Sneed said in U.S. News & World Report the year after the film was released, "Doubts still lingered about its ability to truly bring about a newfound racial consciousness among a national, mainstream audience ... The film also was a period piece that featured a happy ending ushered in by a 'white savior' in the form of Brad Pitt's character." At The Guardian, black Canadian author Orville Lloyd Douglas said he would not be seeing 12 Years a Slave, explaining: "I'm convinced these black race films are created for a white, liberal film audience to engender white guilt and make them feel bad about themselves. Regardless of your race, these films are unlikely to teach you anything you don't already know." A Black writer Michael Arceneaux wrote a rebuttal essay "We Don't Need To Get Over Slavery... Or Movies About Slavery". Arceneaux criticized Douglas for being ignorant and having an apathetic attitude towards black Americans and slavery.

12 Years a Slave has received numerous awards and nominations. It earned three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, while Ejiofor received the Best Actor award. In addition, the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2013 by various ongoing critics, appearing on 100 critics' top-ten lists in which 25 had the film in their number-one spot. This is both the most of any film released in its production year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by John Ridley, based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, an African-American who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. He was in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before he was able to secretly get information to friends and family in New York, who in turn secured his release with the aid of the state. Northup's account provides extensive details on the slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, and describes at length cotton and sugar cultivation and slave treatment on major plantations in Louisiana.

The work was published eight years before the Civil War by Derby & Miller of Auburn, New York, soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe's best-selling novel about slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), to which it lent factual support. Northup's book, dedicated to Stowe, sold 30,000 copies, making it a bestseller in its own right.

After being published in several editions in the 19th century and later cited by specialist scholarly works on slavery in the United States, the memoir fell into public obscurity for nearly 100 years. It was re-discovered on separate occasions by two Louisiana historians, Sue Eakin ( Louisiana State University at Alexandria) and Joseph Logsdon ( University of New Orleans). In the early 1960s, they researched and retraced Solomon Northup's journey and co-edited a historically annotated version that was published by Louisiana State University Press (1968).

The memoir has been adapted as two film versions, produced as the 1984 PBS television film Solomon Northup's Odyssey and the Oscar-winning 2013 film 12 Years a Slave.

In his home town of Saratoga, New York, Solomon Northup, a free negro who was a skilled carpenter and violinist, was approached by two circus promoters, Brown and Hamilton. They offered him a brief, high-paying job as a musician with their traveling circus. Without informing his wife, who was away at work in a nearby town, he traveled with the strangers to downstate New York and Washington, D.C. Soon after arriving in the capital, he awoke to find himself drugged, bound, and in the cell of a slave pen. When Northup asserted his rights as a free man, he was beaten and warned never again to mention his free life in New York.

Transported by ship to New Orleans, Northup and other enslaved black people contracted smallpox and one died. In transit, Northup implored a sympathetic sailor to send a letter to his family. The letter arrived safely, but, lacking knowledge of his final destination, Northup's family was unable to effect his rescue.

Northup's first owner was William Prince Ford, who ran a lumber mill on a bayou of the Red River. Northup subsequently had several other owners, less humane than Ford, during his twelve-year bondage. At times, his carpentry and other skills contributed to his being treated relatively well, but he also suffered extreme cruelty. On two occasions, he was attacked by John Tibeats, a white man he was leased to, and defended himself, for which he suffered severe reprisals. After about two years of enslavement, Northup was sold to Edwin Epps, a notoriously cruel cotton planter. Epps held Northup enslaved for 10 years, during which time he assigned the New Yorker to various roles from cotton picker, to hauler to driver, which required Northup to oversee the work of fellow slaves and punish them for undesirable behavior. While on Epps' plantation, Northup became friends with a slave girl named Patsey, whom he writes about briefly in the book.

After being beaten for claiming his free status in Washington, D.C., Northup in the ensuing 12 years did not reveal his true history again to a single person, slave or owner. Finally he confided his story to Samuel Bass, a white carpenter and abolitionist from Canada working at the Epps plantation. Bass, at great risk to himself, sent letters to Northup's wife and friends in Saratoga. Parker, a white shopkeeper, received one of the letters and sought assistance from Henry B. Northup, a white attorney and politician whose family had held and freed Solomon Northup's father and with whom Solomon had a longtime friendship. Henry contacted New York state officials. As the state had passed a law in 1840 to provide financial resources for the rescue of citizens kidnapped into slavery, the Governor appointed Henry Northup as an agent to travel to Louisiana and work with law enforcement to free Solomon. Once in Louisiana, Henry Northup hired local Avoyelles Parish attorney, John P. Waddill, to assist in securing Solomon Northup's freedom. After a variety of bureaucratic measures and searches were undertaken, the attorney succeeded in locating Solomon and freeing him from the plantation. Northup later filed charges against the men who sold him into slavery but was unsuccessful in his suit. He returned to New York and reunited with his family there.

Northup concludes his narrative with the following statement:

My narrative is at an end. I have no comments to make upon the subject of Slavery. Those who read this book may form their own opinions of the " peculiar institution." What it may be in other States, I do not profess to know; what it is in the region of Red River, is truly and faithfully delineated in these pages. This is no fiction, no exaggeration. If I have failed in anything, it has been in presenting to the reader too prominently the bright side of the picture. I doubt not hundreds have been as unfortunate as myself; that hundreds of free citizens have been kidnapped and sold into slavery, and are at this moment wearing out their lives on plantations in Texas and Louisiana. But I forbear. Chastened and subdued in spirit by the sufferings I have borne, and thankful to that good Being through whose mercy I have been restored to happiness and liberty, I hope henceforward to lead an upright though lowly life, and rest at last in the church yard where my father sleeps.

Questions were often raised about accuracy or authenticity of books about slavery, including slave narratives. Similarities between Northup's book and Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin have been noted by critics. Stowe's book was published a year before Northup's memoir but by the time she published her rebuttal to critics about accuracy in her A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, she referred to his story, which had been publicized in newspaper accounts. Stowe wrote,

It is a singular coincidence that this man was carried to a plantation in the Red River country, that same region where the scene of Tom's captivity was laid; and his account of this plantation, his mode of life there, and some incidents which he describes, form a striking parallel to that history.

Northup's account confirms Stowe's fictional portrayal of conditions in Louisiana, as the area where Northup was enslaved was close to the fictional setting of Simon Legree's plantation on the Red River. Northup expresses other arguments against slavery. For instance, Uncle Tom's Cabin focuses on how the legal system prevents even kind owners from treating slaves well and how it releases cruel owners from liabilities for their treatment of slaves.

Such themes appear in Northup's narrative, too. Writing about this work, Eric Herschtal noted that "Slave narratives were never intended to give an unbiased view. They were antislavery polemics meant to bring down the institution." The fact that these works had a purpose was similar to other published works.

Herschtal emphasizes that Northup expressed compassion in his account, quoting him: "It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel," Northup writes, "so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives." Northup's first-person account of his twelve years of bondage captured attention in the national political debate over slavery that took place in the years leading up to the Civil War. It drew endorsements from major Northern newspapers, anti-slavery organizations, and evangelical groups. It "sold three times as many copies as Frederick Douglass's slave narrative in its first two years."

Northup's account describes the daily life of slaves at Bayou Boeuf in Louisiana, their diet and living conditions, the relationship between master and slave, and the means that slave catchers used to recapture runaways. His account shares some details similar to those of authors who were escaped slaves, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and William Wells Brown. However, Northup was unique in documenting his being kidnapped as a free man from the North and sold into slavery. His perspective was always to compare what he saw to what he knew before while living as a free man in a free state. While there were hundreds of such kidnappings, he was among the few persons who gained freedom again.

Early and mid-twentieth century historians of slavery, Kenneth Stampp, Stanley Elkins, and Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, endorsed the historical accuracy of the book. Eakin and Logsdon in 1968, wrote: "In the last analysis, [the] narrative deserves to be believed, not simply because [Northup] seems to be talking reasonably, not merely because he adorns his tale with compelling and persuasive details. At every point where materials exist for checking his account, it can be verified." These materials include trial records, correspondence, diary, and slave sale records.

While Twelve Years a Slave is the best-known example of someone who was kidnapped and later freed - albeit through extraordinary efforts - historians have begun to research and present other cases. Most of the known court cases of freedom suits related to kidnapping victims were filed in New Orleans, although some were in border states such as Missouri. One such suit took place in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Cornelius Sinclair, a free black man from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had been sold after being kidnapped in August 1825 and transported South with some younger free blacks. A total of about 20 young blacks disappeared from the Philadelphia area that summer, some survivors sold into slavery in Mississippi. Helped by the intervention of Philadelphia mayor Joseph Watson, most of those kidnapped were returned free to Philadelphia by June 1826, but Sinclair's odyssey was longer. He was freed in 1827 by a unanimous verdict of an all-white jury.

After additional printings in the 19th century, the book went out of print until 1968, when historians Joseph Logsdon and Sue Eakin restored it to prominence. Eakin discovered the story as a child growing up in Louisiana plantation country-the owner of a first edition showed her the book, after finding it in a former plantation home.

Years later, Logsdon had a student from an old Louisiana family who brought a copy of the original 1853 book to class; her family had owned it for more than a century. Together Logsdon and Eakin studied Northup's account, documenting it through the slave sales records of Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, by retracing his journey and bondage in Bayou Boeuf plantation country in central Louisiana and through its records, and documenting his New York State origins. They found his father's freeman's decree, and the case files for the legal work that restored Northup's freedom and prosecuted his abductors. In 1968, Eakin and Logsdon's thoroughly annotated edition of the original book was published by Louisiana State University Press, shedding new light on Northup's account and establishing its historic significance. That book has been widely used by scholars and in classrooms for more than 40 years, and is still in print.

In 1998, Logsdon was invited by scholars in upstate New York to participate in a search for Solomon's grave. However, bad weather prevented the search that year, and Logsdon died the following June 1999. In 2007, shortly before her death at age 90, Eakin completed an updated and expanded version of their book; it includes more than 150 pages of new background material, maps, and photographs. In 2013, e-book and audiobook versions of her final definitive edition were released in her honor. With permission, scholars may use Eakin's lifetime archives through The Sue Eakin Collection, Louisiana State University at Alexandria, Louisiana. The Joseph Logsdon Archives are available at the University of New Orleans.

Historian Jesse Holland noted in a 2009 interview that he had relied on Northup's memoir and detailed description of Washington in 1841 to identify the location of some slave markets in the capital. Holland has also researched the roles of African-American slaves who, as skilled laborers, helped build some of the important public buildings in Washington, including the Capitol and part of the original Executive Mansion.

Twelve Years a Slave is in the public domain; e-book versions can be downloaded from several sites and many reprints are still in print by multiple publishers (see 'External links' section)

In 1968, historians Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, both based in Louisiana, published an edited and annotated version of Northup's narrative. Updated and illustrated editions of this work have since been published, including an adaptation for younger readers.

In 2012, David Fiske self-published the biography Solomon Northup: His Life Before and After Slavery. The book's Appendix C provides the publishing history for Twelve Years a Slave during the 19th century. The book was expanded and re-issued by Praeger in August 2013 as Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave, ISBN 978-1440829741, with co-authors Fiske, Clifford W. Brown, and Rachel Seligman.

Tyehimba Jess refers to Edwin Epps's violence towards his slaves in "What Marked Tom?" in his book, Olio (2016).

1. J.C. Derby (1884), "William H. Seward", Fifty Years Among Authors, Books and Publishers, New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., pp. 62-63

2. Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave: Summary, online text at Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina, accessed 19 July 2012

3. ^ "'12 Years a Slave' prompts effort to recognize work of UNO historian in reviving tale". Nola.com.

4. "Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup". Lsupress.org.

5. ^ Cieply, Michael; Barnesmarch, Brooks (March 2, 2014). "'12 Years a Slave' Claims Best Picture Oscar". The New York Times.

6. Ford became a leader of the ^ Restoration Movement in Louisiana as he and his Baptist congregation were influenced by the writings of Alexander Campbell.

7. Stowe, H. B. ^ A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, Inkling Books, 2005 (reprint), p.245

8. ^ Alfred L. Brophy (1995-1996). "Over and above ... There Broods a Portentous Shadow,-The Shadow of Law: Harriet Beecher Stowe's Critique of Slave Law in Uncle Tom's Cabin" (PDF). Journal of Law and Religion. 12 (2): 457-506. doi:10.2307/1051590. JSTOR 1051590.

9. ^ Eric Herschtal, "The Passion of Solomon Northup" The New York Times

10. ^ Northup, Solomon (1968). Eakin, Sue & Logsdon, Joseph (eds.). Twelve Years a Slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. x and xvi. ISBN 0807101508.

11. Judson E. Crump and Alfred L. Brophy, "Cornelius Sinclair's Odyssey: Freedom, Slavery, and Freedom Again in the Old South", Social Science Research Network, July 2014, UNC Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2469529, accessed 16 April 2015.

12. John Henderson, Joseph Watson, Job Brown, Thomas Bradford Junr., R. L. Kennon, Joshua Boucher, H. V. Somerville and Eric Ledell Smith, Notes and Documents: "Rescuing African American Kidnapping Victims in Philadelphia as Documented in the Joseph Watson Papers", Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 129 (2008), pp. 317, 330-332

13. ^ "Jesse Holland on How Slaves Built the White House and the US Capitol". Democracynow.org.

Online text

Twelve Years a Slave, Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg and Google Books (scanned original editions with some color illustrated)

Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, online text at Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina

Twelve Years a Slave public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Letters by John R. Smith, "Wilbur H. Siebert Collection", Houghton Library, Harvard University. Available as online images, detailing Northup's involvement in the Underground Railroad after January 1863.

Twelve Years a Slave website, with audio excerpts by Lou Gossett, Jr.; history, art and images

Other

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Solomon Northup, (born July 10, 1807, Schroon [now Minerva], New York, U.S.-died after 1857), American farmer, labourer, and musician whose experience of being kidnapped and sold into slavery was the basis for his book Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana (1853).

Northup was born a free person of colour in what is now Minerva, New York. Though he claimed to have been born in July 1808 in Twelve Years a Slave, a later deposition in which he specified his birth date and age indicates that he was likely born a year earlier. His father, Mintus, had been born into slavery but was freed following the death of his master, Capt. Henry Northup, whose will contained the stipulation that his slaves be manumitted. Mintus eventually acquired his own farm and enough land to fulfill the property ownership requirement that African Americans faced in order to vote. Solomon received some education and worked on his family's farm as a child.He married Anne Hampton in 1828. In 1834, after selling their farm, the couple moved to Saratoga Springs, New York, where they worked odd jobs to support their three children. Northup also established a reputation as a talented fiddler.

In March 1841 he was recruited by two men who claimed to be circus performers and offered him money to join their act as a fiddler, traveling south from New York. Upon their arrival in Washington, D.C., in early April, Northup was drugged, lost consciousness, and awoke to find himself in shackles in an underground cell. He was conveyed to Richmond, Virginia, and then delivered by ship to New Orleans, where in June he was sold at a slave market under the name Platt Hamilton. He spent the ensuing 12 years in slavery in the Bayou Boeuf plantation region of central Louisiana's Red River valley.

Northup was owned first by William Prince Ford, whom he praised for his kindness. Ford was, however, forced by financial exigency to sell him to the brutal John M. Tibaut (referred to as John M. Tibeats in 12 Years a Slave) in 1842. (Ford retained 40 percent ownership of him, as the sale was for the repayment of a debt not judged to be worth as much as Northup.) Northup was Tibaut's only slave. When Tibaut attempted to whip him, Northup resisted and prevailed in the ensuing fight. Infuriated, Tibaut sought help from neighbouring overseers in attempting to lynch Northup, who was rescued by Ford's overseer, Anderson Chafin (referred to as Chapin in 12 Years a Slave). Northup also prevailed in a second fight and fled to the protection of Ford, who then demanded that Tibaut sell or lease him.

In April 1843 Northup was sold by Ford and Tibaut to Edwin Epps, under whose ownership he remained for the next decade. Epps used Northup both as an artisan slave and as a field hand, occasionally leasing him out to sugar planters and processors. Throughout this time, Northup was often a "driver" in charge of other slaves. Epps, who was proud of his expertise with a lash, had a sadistic streak. Northup contrived to escape several times during that period but was unsuccessful. It was not until an abolitionist carpenter from Canada named Samuel Bass visited Epps's farm in June 1852 that Northup was able to arrange to have letters delivered to friends in New York to alert them of his situation and set in motion his rescue. One letter was forwarded to Anne Northup, who enlisted the help of Henry B. Northup, a lifelong friend of Solomon and the grandnephew of the person who had manumitted Mintus.

Henry mobilized widespread support for Solomon among the leading citizens of Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls) and Fort Edward, New York, and, under an 1840 statute designed to rescue New York citizens sold into slavery, in November 1852 Gov. Washington Hunt made him an agent of the State of New York to find Solomon. Armed with this array of documentation, along with letters from a senator and a Supreme Court justice, Henry traveled to Louisiana and hired local counsel. With the help of Bass, they were able to locate Solomon, and his freedom was legally obtained on January 4, 1853.

Northup was reunited with his family later that month. His rescue was widely publicized. Stopping in Washington, D.C., en route to New York, he brought charges against James H. Birch (referred to as James H. Burch in Northup's narrative), the slave dealer who had incarcerated him. Because of his race, though, he was not permitted to testify, and the case was dismissed after two other slave dealers testified on behalf of Birch. That same year, together with local writer David Wilson, Northup penned his memoir, Twelve Years a Slave. The book sold some 30,000 copies in the ensuing three years, and Northup used the proceeds to purchase property in upstate New York, where he lived with his family.

From 1853 to 1857 Northup, now a national celebrity, engaged in extensive speaking tours. As a result of the story's widespread notoriety, the New York kidnappers were identified, arrested, and indicted in 1854. After much legal maneuvering, the case reached the state supreme court and then the court of appeals, but the charges were ultimately dismissed in May 1857. Northup subsequently disappeared from public view and, the best evidence indicates, joined the Underground Railroad and spent several years in New England helping escaped slaves reach Canada. The time and circumstances of his death, as well as his place of burial, are unknown. His last public appearance was in Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, in August 1857. He was not accounted for in the U.S. census of 1860 and almost certainly predeceased Anne, who died in 1876.

Twelve Years a Slave remains one of the most important American slave narratives. It is a valuable source of information regarding the daily lives of slaves in central Louisiana, including the Christmas celebratory practices in slave culture. Its shrewd but nonpolemical judgments of people described in the narrative have been commented on from the time of the book's publication.

Twelve Years a Slave went out of print before the turn of the century. However, Louisiana researchers Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon spent several decades researching Northup's life before, in 1968, releasing an annotated reprint that substantiated many of his claims. An annual celebration known as Solomon Northup Day was established in Saratoga Springs in 1999. Northup's memoir also provided the basis for director Gordon Parks's television docudrama Solomon Northup's Odyssey (1984) and director Steve McQueen's film 12 Years a Slave (2013).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Solomon Northup, American farmer, laborer, and musician whose experience of being kidnapped and sold into slavery was the basis for his book Twelve Years a Slave (1853), which was adapted into an award-winning film in 2013. Learn more about Northup's life in this article.

# data[].attributes.headline
Read the biography of a very famous slave, Harriet Tubman

# data[].attributes.subject
Read the biography of a very famous slave, Harriet Tubman

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Go here to watch avideo about Harriet Tubman.

Biography

Occupation: Nurse, Civil Rights Activist

Born: 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland

Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York

Best known as: A leader in the Underground Railroad

Biography:

Where did Harriet Tubman grow up?

Harriet Tubman was born intoslavery on a plantation in Maryland. Historians think she was born in 1820, or possibly 1821, but birth records weren't kept by most enslavers. Her birth name was Araminta Ross, but she took the name of her mother, Harriet, when she was thirteen.

Life as a Slave

Life as an enslaved person was difficult. Harriet first lived in a one-room cabin with her family that included eleven children. When she was only six years old, she was loaned out to another family where she helped take care of a baby. She was sometimes beaten and all she got to eat was table scraps.

Harriet Tubman
by H. Seymour Squyer

Later Harriet worked a number of jobs on the plantation such as plowing fields and loading produce into wagons. She became strong doing manual labor that included hauling logs and driving oxen.

At the age of thirteen Harriet received a horrible head injury. It happened when she was visiting the town. An enslaver tried to throw an iron weight at one of his enslaved, but hit Harriet instead. The injury nearly killed her and caused her to have dizzy spells and blackouts for the rest of her life.

The Underground Railroad

During this time there were states in the northern United States where slavery was outlawed. The enslaved in the South would try to escape to the North using theUnderground Railroad. This wasn't a real railroad. It was a number of safe homes (called stations) that hid the enslaved as they traveled north. The people that helped enslaved people along the way were called conductors. The enslaved would move from station to station at night, hiding in the woods or sneaking onto trains until they finally reached the north and freedom.

Harriet Escapes

In 1849 Harriet decided to escape. She would use the Underground Railroad. After a long and scary trip she made it to Pennsylvania and was finally free.

Leading Others to Freedom

In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. This meant that the formerly enslaved could be taken from free states and returned to their owners. In order to be free, formerly enslaved people now had to escape to Canada. Harriet wanted to help others, including her family, to safety in Canada. She joined the Underground Railroad as a conductor.

Harriet became famous as an Underground Railroad conductor. She led nineteen different escapes from the south and helped around 300 of the enslaved to escape. She became known as "Moses" because, like the Moses in the Bible, she led her people to freedom.

Harriet was truly brave. She risked her life and freedom to help others. She also helped her family, including her mother and father, to escape. She was never caught and never lost one of the enslaved.

The Civil War

Harriet's bravery and service did not end with the Underground Railroad, she also helped during theCivil War. She helped to nurse injured soldiers, served as a spy for the north, and even helped on a military campaign that led to the rescue of over 750 enslaved people.

Later in Life

After the Civil War, Harriet lived in New York with her family. She helped poor and sick people. She also spoke out on equal rights for blacks and women.

Interesting Facts about Harriet Tubman

Her nickname as a child was "Minty".

She was a very religious woman having learned about the Bible from her mother.

Harriet bought a house in Auburn, New York for her parents after helping them to escape from the south.

Harriet married John Tubman in 1844. He was a free black man. She married again in 1869 to Nelson Davis.

She usually worked the Underground Railroad in the winter months when the nights were longer and people spent more time indoors.

There is a story that slaveholders offered a reward of $40,000 for the capture of Harriet Tubman. This is likely just a legend and not true.

Harriet was very religious. When she led fugitives across the border she would exclaim "Glory to God and Jesus, too. One more soul is safe!"

Activities

Crossword Puzzle
Word Search
Take a ten questionquiz about this page.
Read a longer detailedbiography of Harriet Tubman.

Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Go here to watch avideo about Harriet Tubman.

More Civil Rights Heroes:

Susan B. Anthony
Cesar Chavez
Frederick Douglass
Mohandas Gandhi
Helen Keller
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nelson Mandela
Thurgood Marshall
Rosa Parks
Jackie Robinson
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Mother Teresa
Sojourner Truth
Harriet Tubman
Booker T. Washington
Ida B. Wells

More women leaders:

Works Cited

Back to Biography for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Go here to watch avideo about Harriet Tubman. Biography Occupation: Nurse, Civil Rights Activist Born: 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York Best known as: A leader in the Underground Railroad Biography: Where did Harriet Tubman grow up? Harriet Tubman was born intoslavery on a plantation in Maryland.

# data[].attributes.body
Here is another famous woman's biography

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the biography of Sojourner Truth, a slave who escaped, fought for her son in the courts, and then became an abolitionist working for the freedom of all slaves.

# data[].attributes.body
(have to /be allowed to)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Associe chaque fin de phrase au début qui lui correspond.
OBLIGATION: HAD TO
INTERDICTION: WEREN'T ALLOWED TO
DROIT: WERE ALLOWED TO

# data[].attributes.headline
SLAVERY MISTREATMENTS Practise the passive voice

# data[].attributes.subject
SLAVERY MISTREATMENTS Practise the passive voice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Associe l'image à la phrase qui lui correspond.

# data[].attributes.body
Read the small texts describing how slaves were treated and punished

# data[].attributes.headline
Passive voice (fais les 4 exercices proposés dans l'ordre)

# data[].attributes.subject
Passive voice (fais les 4 exercices proposés dans l'ordre)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fais les activités suivantes dans l'ordre.