Film ‘12 Years a Slave’ recounts true story of a free black man sold into slavery

Film ‘12 Years a Slave’ recounts true story of a free black man sold into slavery
Film ‘12 Years a Slave’ recounts true story of a free black man sold into slavery

Film ‘12 Years a Slave’ recounts true story of a free black man sold into slavery

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Filmmaker Steve McQueen’s latest feature, 12 Years a Slave retells the true story of Simon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the decades before the Civil War. Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University, David Blight joins Milos Stehlik, director of Facets Multimedia, to discuss the film’s historical context. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Solomon Northup)