2014 Oscars Strike a Chord with Tundra Authors

The Oscars for “12 Years a Slave” struck a chord with Tundra authors Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen. The movie and their book, Five Thousand Years of Slavery, tell the story of Solomon Northup, a free Northern black, who was kidnapped into slavery and transported to Louisiana, where he languished for twelve long years until he was released in 1853. “After seeing the film, many people told us that they were surprised at how brutal slavery was. But as we show in Five Thousand Years of Slavery, cruelty and slavery cannot be separated, not in Northup’s day and not today.” The authors are thrilled that “12 Years a Slave” has won these honors and hope this means that more people will learn the truth about the history of slavery.