Background information

Slavery in the US

The film 12 Years a Slave directed by Steve McQueen takes place between 1841-1853 in the USA. At that time, slavery was still legal and was practiced especially against black people. For a better understanding of the events in the movie, we will give you a more detailed view of this context.

Slavery in the US was considered legal since before the country’s founding in 1776 until 1862. It was most commonly accepted in the South, where black slaves were used to work on cotton and sugar cane plantations. Although some slaves came from the slave trade, a law from 1662 stated that all children born from a slave mother inherited her status.

The conditions the slaves were kept in were bad, and they were often mistreated and forced to work until exhaustion, and threatened with physical punishment if they disobeyed. The film 12 Years a Slave shows this especially in the second half, when Solomon is at Epps’ plantation. Both Epps and his wife mistreat the slaves, and Epps regularly rapes his favorite slave Patsey, and it is even hinted that he has children with her. 

Moreover, many slave owners and supporters of slavery argued in favor of enslaving black people using passages f...