Author

Solomon Northup

· Free Black New Yorker kidnapped into slavery, author of a slave narrative

Portrait of Solomon Northup.
Portrait of Solomon Northup. Source · Public domain

About Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup (1808-after 1857) was a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery in the Deep South. After twelve years he regained freedom and published his narrative with the assistance of David Wilson. His memoir is one of the most important first-person accounts of American slavery.

Notable works

On this site

12 Years a Slave

1853 · 19th Century · Memoir

12 Years a Slave narrates Solomon Northup's kidnapping from freedom into slavery and his eventual restoration to his family. Northup is a literate, skilled violinist and laborer living as a free Black man in Saratoga Springs, New York.