12 Years a Slave is a memoir, meaning that Solomon is telling an emotional story about one piece of his life (specifically the 12 years that he was enslaved). This is different from an autobiography, which focuses on detailing a public figure’s whole life from the beginning through the time of writing, focusing on chronology and facts.
The book is also a slave narrative, a specific type of literature that centers on former enslaved people telling their stories in the period when the country was divided over slavery (such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave). Twelve Years a Slave falls into this category, as Solomon spends very little time describing his life before his period of captivity.
Many slave narratives also fall into the category of Abolitionist literature in that their intention was to sway sympathetic (primarily white) readers into taking action against slavery. While books like 12 Years a Slave are factual memoirs, they also zero in on specific scenes (such as moments of brutality and violence) in order to appeal to readers’ emotions. In this way, Abolitionist literature can be considered pieces of persuasive writing. Solomon also intentionally dedicates 12 Years a Slave to Harriet Beecher Stowe—the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin—cementing his memoir’s place in the Abolitionist literature canon.
