Twelve Years a SlaveI can speak of Slavery only so far as it came under my own observationonly so far as I have known and experienced it in my own person. My object is, to give a candid and truthful statement of facts: to repeat the story of my life, without exaggeration, leaving it for others to determine, whether even the pages of fiction present a picture of more cruel wrong or a severer bondage. As far back as I have been able to ascertain, my ancestors on the