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Twelve Years a Slave is a 19th century memoir by American Solomon Northup. Northup, a black man born free in New York state, tells how he was tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. He was in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before he was able to get information to friends and family in New York, who in turn secured his release aided by the state. Northup's account provides extensive details on the slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, providing important information about cotton and sugar cultivation and slave treatment on major plantations in Louisiana.

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