12 Years a Slave

Hour 2

Guests: Steven Hahn, John L. Jackson

The film “12 Years a Slave” is out in theaters and winning critical acclaim.  It’s been praised for its realistic, unflinching depiction of slavery in America.  The story comes from the 1853 autobiography by Solomon Northup, a free African American living in Saratoga, New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery to a cruel plantation owner in the South.  This hour we talk about Northup’s narrative, the legacy of slavery and how films have handled the subject in the past.  Marty’s guests are STEVEN HAHN, a Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and JOHN L. JACKSON, Professor of Communication, Africana Studies and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.