Slavery as a Peculiar Institution in 12 Years a Slave One of the best and most important passages of Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave comes at the very end of the memoir. It is a short passage that conveys the essence of the times in a few short words and that summarizes the character of the man who has written the tale. The passage comes on page 321 just before the book concludes with sheet music from the song “Roaring River,” about life on the plantation. The passage begins with Northup’s announcement that the story has concluded. And then comes the curious line, “I have no comments to make upon the subject of Slavery” (Northup 321). This is a most curious line because, of course, the entire memoir has just been about his life as a slave. Why does he end the story by saying he has no comments to…...

Slave
Review of the Film 12 Years a Slave

The film 12 Years a Slave illustrates why an economic system predicated on brutality, tyranny, terrorism rationalized under the painfully hypocritical guise of Christianity would never last. Ironically the continued brutal, heartless persecution of slaves just hastened the collapse of a commodity-driven industry that was destined for creative disruption at the hands of more insightful, intelligent business leaders. The redeeming value of this film from an economic theory perspective is that it shows how painfully bad the plantation owners were at even understanding the industry they were attempting to dominate through brute force manual labor in the form of slaves. There is just so much flesh a slave can give up until he is dead, yet the plantation owners, incompetent to run their businesses, can't see that a healthy workforce is going to make them infinitely more profitable. It's as if the…...

P Advertising
The film 12 Years a Slave is promoted using a multitude of tools. There are several objectives of the public relations campaign. The first is to gain as much exposure for the film as possible, so that as many potential consumers are aware of its release. The second is to create interest in the film. This is done through a campaign that emphasizes education about the film's content and the relevance of its story. Lastly, the quality of the film needs to be projected by the public relations.

Public relations is defined as the "strategic communications process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics" (PSA, 2012). This definition identifies that public relations has two components -- the sender of the information and the receiver. The role of the public relations is also defined here as one of relationship-building, which implies something greater than one-way communication. Through this…...

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References

Friedman, R. (2013). "12 years a slave" chosen best picture by Boston film critics. Showbiz 411. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from  http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/12/08/12-years-a-slave-chosen-best-picture-by-boston-film-critics 

McKinney (2013). A film about race. McKinney and Associates. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from  http://www.mckpr.com/voice-matters-blog/a-film-about-race 

PRSA. (2012). PRSA announces the final definition of public relations. Ragan's PR Daily. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from  http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PRSA_announces_the_final_definition_of_public_rela_10993.aspx

12 Years a Slave Relevance of Northup's Beating in 12 Years a Slave
The scene in Chapter 3 when Northup is beaten by Radburn and Burch for daring to argue with him that he was a free man is one that seems particularly relevant to the white readers of the tale. It is important that they hear of this cruelty because until they are in the shoes of the man who is beaten they cannot really sympathize or empathize. So Northup recounts what that experience was like and it makes the reader feel terrible for Northup and feel outraged towards the men who kidnapped him.
I see Northup writing for readers so as to inform them. The implications for us reading now are really no different because what has really changed in the century and a half that has passed? Slavery has been abolished in name but in spirit it lives on in…...

The women are especially vulnerable because their children can be sent away from them, they can be the brunt of a cruel master's sexual encounters, and they often have to serve the master's family, which can make them targets of abuse.
Most of the southern women in the book are portrayed as kinder than their husbands. He writes of the wife of Mr. Epp "She had been well educated at some institution this side the Mississippi; was beautiful, accomplished, and usually good-humored. She was kind to all of us but Patsey -- frequently, in the absence of her husband, sending out to us some little dainty from her own table" (Northup 198-199). They are sometimes jealous of the slave women, as Mrs. Epp is, but for the most part, they are the gentler part of the slave experience, and they are not as cruel or vindictive as their husbands are.

Nat…...

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References

Northup, Soloman. Twelve Years a Slave. 1997. University of North Carolina. 15 Nov. 2010.

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Roark, James L. Johnson, Michael P. And Cohen, Patricia Cline. Reading the American Past.

Slave, Not Born a Slave
The Making of Slavery

The sense of proprietorship of slave traders, owners, and other propagators of chattel slavery that was prevalent in the United States until the middle of the 19th century would be absurdly laughable -- were it not steeped in a legacy of perversion, of anguish, of tragedy and of perniciousness. The notion that one had the right to actually own another, the latter of whose sole existence would be to serve the former in any way, shape or method which the "owner" deemed appropriate, has been disproved as largely imaginary, and not something based on any sense of right or morality (no matter how such a historically ambiguous term was defined) numerous times, both during the tenure of slavery in the United States and well afterwards. A casual examination of the wording of the Declaration of Independence confirms this fact (McAulifee, 2010, p.…...

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References

Bland, Sterling. (2001). African-American Salve Narratives: An Anthology, Volume 1. Westport: Greenwood.

Chesnutt, C. (1889). "The Sherriff's Children." The Independent. 41: 30-32.

Davis, A.Y. (1981). "Reflections on the Black Woman's Role in the Community of Slaves." Black Scholar. 12 (6) 2-15.

Douglass, F. (1845). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Retrieved from  http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Douglass/Narrative/Douglass_Narrative.pdf

Unlike most of today's women, Celia could not take charge of her own life. Because she was a slave, she served others and lived at their mercy. Her relationships with the family as a whole were based on that fact that she was a slave, so it was her race that led her to that predicament. However, even George had some control over what happened in his life. He had control over Celia to a degree; at least that he could influence her. That is more than Celia had. Because of her gender and race, she was powerless, and had to submit to the will of others. She even confronted Newsom because she feared losing her relationship with George. The text notes, "While it is possible that Celia may have taken action against Newsom of her own accord, the evidence strongly suggests that she confronted Newsom only when forced…...

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References

McLauren, M.A. (1991). Celia, a slave: A true story of violence and retribution in antebellum Missouri. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press.

St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography. Philip Freeman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005.
The book by Philip Freeman takes the reader deeper into the life and times of St. Patrick of Ireland than any previous publication has been able to do. Freeman's thesis is that there have previously been many unknowns about St. Patrick and the author was determined to solve those mysteries as thoroughly as he could. The work was written based on Freeman's passion to truly understand and share his knowledge of St. Patrick to readers around the world. Bringing St. Patrick's fascinating life into a well-thought-out narrative was a valuable historical service for Freeman. The purpose of this book review is to present a realistic portrait of St. Patrick, the saint after whom a special day is designated -- and while millions of people celebrate St. Patrick's Day, very few are likely to know anything at all…...

Mary also remembers the days of the war, when they heard stories about being set free and prayed for their freedom. Then one day all the slaves were asked to come to the Grand House. Here they were told by the master and his wife that they were no longer slaves. They were now free. "The Yankees will soon be here." The two of them then brought their chairs to the front of the house on the porch and waited. In about an hour, the Yankees arrived and repeated: "You are now free." The slaves and Yankees ate and drank together in celebration, while the owners continued to "humbly" sit on the porch and watch. This story by Mary was indeed very different from the movies, such as "Gone with the Wind" with the fires and mayhem. It is actually as if the master and his wife were glad --…...

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References.

Jacobs, Harriett. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. 26 November 2008.  http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/jacobs/hjhome.htm 

Yetman, Norman. Voices from Slavery. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1970

Jefferson declared to the world, that we are inferior to the whites, both in the endowments of our bodies and our minds?" (alker, 1829)
In contrast to alker's defiance, although his oration gathers in passionate momentum, Douglass begins his speech modestly before his audience. "Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the present occasion." (Douglass, 1852) He also ends his speech with hope, "Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country." (Douglass, 1852) In contrast, alker makes a historical overview of slavery of the past, from Greece, to Rome, to ancient Israel and points out that of all forms of slavery, America's remains the worst, and the most…...

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Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. "What to a Slave is the 4th of July?" Chicken bones: Online Journal. 1852. Feb 2005]http://www.nathanielturner.com/fourthofjulyspeech.htm.[4

Walker, David. David Walker's Appeal, In Four Articles: Together With A Preamble To The Colored Citizens Of The World, But In Particular, And Very Expressly, To Those Of The United States Of America. Revised Edition with an Introduction by Sean Wilentz. Hill and Wang, New York, 1995. Full text from PBS Website.   Feb 2005]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2931t.html .[4

This book is important because so much of black history centers on the experience of being a slave, rather than the experience of living together with others slaves and the development of culture and tradition. This book shows how black American culture really originated, and that the lives of slaves were incredibly hard, but enriching in their own right. The author's exhaustive research gives the reader a real glimpse into the everyday life of slaves, and indicates that they had a rich culture, appreciated their families, hoped desperately for freedom, and lived desperately hard lives. Even though their lives were difficult, they held on to hope and faith, which gave them the courage to continue. His research brings the slaves to life and makes the reader appreciate just how strong they had to be to survive.
This is a very interesting and adsorbing book. eading a slave's autobiography is one…...

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References

Blassingame, John W. (1977). The slave community: Plantation life in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press.

Still it is not completely unheard of for a name to be derived from a longer epitaph of Nat, property of man, Mr. Turner. This is how many people's last names resulted in ending with "man."
Nat Turner was born a slave in Virginia in 1800 and grew to become a slave preacher. He did not use tobacco or liquor and maintained a clean, disciplined life. He was very religious man and became passionate about the Scripture. He began preaching to slaves in and around the area of Southampton County, Virginia in 1828. As a result he became well-known and liked in the area. It was at this time he began having visions. It was these visions that inspired him to revolt. hile he waited for further signs, unrest was already evident in on plantations, in the hills and on boats in ports of call (Greenberg, 85). Gradually he built…...

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Works Cited

Short History of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. Bahia-Online. Retrieved December

10, 2004 from the World Wide Web:  http://www.bahia-online.net/history-bahia.htm .

Gates, H.L., & Appiah, K.A. (Eds.). (1994). Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc.

Goldman, S. (2003). Nat Turner Revolt of 1831. HistoryBuff.com. Retrieved December

Film -- "12 Years a Slave"
Years a Slave is the true account of Solomon Northrup's life. A free African-American living in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children, Solomon was kidnapped and sold into slavery as an escaped slave named Platt. Though Solomon tried to gain his freedom, he was thwarted and cruelly treated by members of America's slavery system. He also saw horrible cruelty inflicted on other African-American slaves and their various adjustments to it. Through the efforts of Solomon and abolitionists, he was finally freed and was compelled to write of his experience and become an abolitionist. The movie is often disturbing but its truthfulness about an actual person's experiences makes it worthwhile.

Body

Mr. Solomon Northrup's Life

Freedom

In 1841, Solomon Northrup is a free African-American living in Saratoga Springs, New York with his wife, Anne Hampton, and his two children, Alonzo and Margaret. Solomon, Anne and their…...

Mis) representations of African-Americans in film:
From the Birth of a Nation onward

Recently, the Academy of Motion Pictures awarded 12 Years a Slave the title of Best Picture of the year. However, it is important to remember that the development of American cinema, racism, and the perpetuation of African-American stereotypes in film has a long and ignoble history. In the essay "The Good Lynching and Birth of a Nation: Discourses and aesthetics of Jim Crow," historian Michele Faith allace examines how one of the great silent film epics directed by cinematic master D.. Griffith consciously and subconsciously validated hegemonic racial ideologies. allace argues that when cinema was in its infancy, although African-Americans were portrayed on screen less frequently than whites, they were not addressed in the same derogatory manner as characterized the Griffith epic and Griffith's masterpiece set the tone for decades afterward. "The film's continued notoriety challenges all our…...

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Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. "The Birth of a Nation movie review." Roger Ebert Reviews. 30 Mar 2003

[4 Mar 2014]  http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-birth-of-a-nation-1915 

Gussow, Adam. Seems like murder: Southern violence and the blues tradition. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Slavery and its Relation to the Modern World The history of slavery in colonial America is a story of two worlds: the world of the aristocratic landowners and the slaves from African that helped to maintain and work the plantations. Each group had its own experiences and views, and each group was impacted differently by slavery. At the time, slavery was an accepted practice in the South. It had first been introduced in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 when 20 slaves from Africa were brought to the colony by a Dutch ship. Thus began an era of slavery in America that had lasting effects on the population of the country even unto this very day. This paper will show how slavery throughout the history of the United States influenced the Legacy of slavery today because slavery is discussed in a negative connotation.
As the Editors of History.com note, “though it is impossible to…...