By now, most of you have seen (or certainly should have seen) the Oscar-nominated film 12 Years a Slave. It was one of Scene‘s top picks of 2013, and is a serious front runner in the best picture and best director races (among others).
The film was based on a book by the same name (only with “Twelve” instead of “12”) published in 1853 and written by Solomon Northrup, the character played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the film. Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society has a copy of the first edition. It’s a remarkable bit of history.
Check out the pics posted on the WRHS Facebook page or, better yet, go the museum and see them for yourself.
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2014.
That is one solid piece of history, though the momentum for the movie to sweep to major Oscars may have faded just a bit.