In 1841, free-born African American Solomon Northup was offered a job in
his hometown of Saratoga Springs, New York. He followed his employers to
the job site at Washington, D.C., where he was beaten, drugged,
kidnapped, and sold into slavery, eventually ending up on a plantation
in Louisiana owned by Edwin Epps. While there, in 1852, Northup
befriended Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass, who was at the time doing
work for Epps. Secretly, Bass was able to contact Northup's family, who
informed New York governor Washington Hunt of his kidnapping. The state
was able to use a law passed in 1840 that allowed the recovery of free
black men who were sold into slavery to rescue Northup. Solomon was
finally made free again on January 4, 1853. One of few slaves of his era
ever to regain freedom, he devoted his time and energy to lecturing and
educating others about abolitionism. His memoir of the experience,
Twelve Years a Slave, was published in 1853, during his first year back
as a free man. Twelve Years a Slave, a best-seller in its time, became a
major motion picture with an all-star cast in October 2013, starring
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, Brad Pitt as Samuel Bass, and
Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps. Cosimo Classics is now presenting a
paperback and hard cover jacketed republication of the original edition.
SOLOMON NORTHUP (1808-c. 1875) was a free African American from New York
who was deceived, drugged, and sold into slavery in Washington, D.C. in
1841. He was transported to New Orleans and sold to a plantation owner
in Louisiana. For several years, he was passed around between slave
owners before winding up with plantation owner Edwin Epps. There he met
Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass, who helped him regain his freedom in
1853. Solomon spent the rest of his life as an abolitionist. He also
assisted with the Underground Railroad in the early 1860s.
