MC Spotlight: 12 Years a Slave
A group of enslaved men [including Solomon Northrup] waiting for work instructions Over the weekend, I went to see the film, 12 Years a Slave, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northrup. Overall, I thought that it was a great film. In fact, it was unlike any other film that I have ever seen depicting the lives of enslaved Africans in the United States. Solomon Northrup’s narrative does what so many have tried to convey through fiction; it took an educated, talented, free, family man and placed him into the chains of slavery. However, Northrup didn't have to jump into any time machine or fall into a trance just to find himself in the middle of the antebellum south. Instead, he was an educated African American family man living in the North during one of America’s darkest times in history – Slavery. In an instant, Solomon Northrup was betrayed and found himself in chains. It didn't matter whether he was educated or a family man, but that he was a strong, able-bodi...
