By Israel & Erik Nordin
West side of NB Gratiot between Clinton River Dr. & Kibbee St.
The Bee Reader sculpture at the evolving MCEP Pollinator Park was installed in July of 2024. It will be open to extend gifts of small paperback books for young readers and mature readers. Each month the Bee Reader will have two paperback books available. One geared for younger readers and one for mature readers. Please come and check it out. Each month’s selection will be available on the MCEP website with the book’s description. If for some reason the books are not there just call us on 586 783 6008 and we will replenish the stock. Remember to dress for the weather!
Our Bee Reader selections for February are:
Twelve Years a Slave
The basis for the Academy Award®-winning movie!
“A moving, vital testament to one of slavery’s ‘many thousand gone’ who retained his humanity in the bowels of degradation.” — Saturday Review
Born a free man in New York State in 1808, Solomon Northup was kidnapped in Washington, DC, in 1841. He spent the next 12 harrowing years of his life as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation. During this time, he was frequently abused and often afraid for his life. After regaining his freedom in 1853, Northup decided to publish this gripping autobiographical account of his captivity.
As an educated man, Northup was able to present an exceptionally detailed and accurate description of slave life and plantation society. Indeed, this book is probably the fullest, most realistic picture of the “peculiar institution” during the three decades before the Civil War. Moreover, Northup tells his story both from the viewpoint of an outsider, who had experienced 30 years of freedom and dignity in the United States before his capture, and as a slave, reduced to total bondage and submission. Very few personal accounts of American slavery were written by slaves with a similar history.
Published in 1853, Northup’s book found a ready audience and almost immediately became a bestseller. Aside from its vivid depiction of the detention, transportation, and sale of slaves, Twelve Years a Slave is admired for its classic accounts of cotton and sugar production, its uncannily precise recall of people, times, and places, and the compelling details that re-create the daily routine of slaves in the Gulf South. 7 illustrations. Index.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Former slave, impassioned abolitionist, brilliant writer, newspaper editor, and eloquent orator whose speeches fired the abolitionist cause, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) led an astounding life. Physical abuse, deprivation and tragedy plagued his early years, yet with his tenacious character and relentless pursuit of self-education, he would overcome these obstacles to become a leading spokesman for his people.
In this, the first and most frequently read of his three autobiographies, Douglass provides graphic descriptions of his childhood and horrifying experiences as a slave as well as a harrowing record of his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom.
Published in 1845 to quell doubts about his origins — since few slaves of that period could write — the Narrative is admired today for its extraordinary passion, sensitive and vivid descriptions and storytelling power. It belongs in the library of anyone interested in African American history and the life of one of the country’s most courageous and influential champions of civil rights.
Reprint of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, The Anti-Slavery Office, Boston, 1845.
We hope you will enjoy this month’s selections!