Solomon Northup (born July 10, 1807 or 1808) was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir Twelve Years a Slave.
The latter won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 86th Academy Awards. ==Early life== ===Family history=== Solomon Northup was born on July 10, 1807 or in 1808.
Solomon Northup (born July 10, 1807 or 1808) was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir Twelve Years a Slave.
The latter won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 86th Academy Awards. ==Early life== ===Family history=== Solomon Northup was born on July 10, 1807 or in 1808.
From 1821 on, when it revised its constitution, the state retained the property requirement for black people, but dropped it for white men, thus expanding their franchise.
He died on November 22, 1829, and his grave is in Hudson Falls Baker Cemetery. ===Marriage and family=== In 1828 or 1829, Solomon Northup married Anne Hampton.
He died on November 22, 1829, and his grave is in Hudson Falls Baker Cemetery. ===Marriage and family=== In 1828 or 1829, Solomon Northup married Anne Hampton.
Between 1830 and 1834, the couple lived in Fort Edward and Kingsbury, small communities in Washington County, New York. They had three children: Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo.
Between 1830 and 1834, the couple lived in Fort Edward and Kingsbury, small communities in Washington County, New York. They had three children: Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo.
Anne became notable as a cook and worked for local taverns, which served food and drink. After selling their farm in 1834, the Northups moved 20 miles to Saratoga Springs, New York, for its employment opportunities.
The New York State Legislature had passed a law in 1840 to protect its African-American residents by providing legal and financial assistance to aid the recovery of any who were kidnapped and taken out of state and illegally enslaved.
In 1840, the New York State Legislature had passed a law committing the state to help any African-American residents kidnapped into slavery, as well as guaranteeing a jury trial to alleged fugitive slaves.
The two recognized each other from the first encounter on the train in 1840.
In 1841, he was offered a traveling musician's job and went to Washington, D.C.
When court was in session at the county seat of Fort Edward, she worked at Sherrill's Coffee House in Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls) to earn extra money. ===Kidnapped and sold into slavery=== In 1841, at age 32, Northup met two men, who introduced themselves as Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton.
John, a county court judge in nearby Fonda, New York, recalled having seen two old friends, Alexander Merrill and Joseph Russell, traveling with a black man to Washington, DC at the time of the late President Harrison's funeral in 1841.
Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, 1853, at Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina. Letters by John R.
Solomon could not pick cotton, however, so Ford found a buyer in a local tradesman. In the winter of 1842, Ford sold Northup to John M.
(In 1843, he led his congregation in converting to the closely related Churches of Christ, after they were influenced by the writings of Alexander Campbell.) In his memoir, Northup characterized Ford as a good man, considerate of his slaves.
In addition, Bass's help came after passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which increased federal penalties against people assisting slaves to escape. ===Restoration of freedom=== Bass wrote several letters: one reached Cephas Parker and William Perry, storekeepers in Saratoga who knew Northup.
They think a kidnapping for slavery in the late 1850s was unlikely, as he was too old to be of interest to slave catchers, but his disappearance remains unexplained. ==Historiography== Although the memoir is often classified among the genre of slave narratives, the scholar Sam Worley says that it does not fit the standard format of the genre.
This led to additional severe physical and mental abuse prompted by Epps's wife, the mistress of the plantation. In 1852, itinerant Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass came to do some work for Epps.
His family and friends enlisted the aid of the Governor of New York, Washington Hunt, and Northup regained his freedom on January 3, 1853. The slave trader in Washington, D.C., James H.
With the work unfinished, after about five weeks, Tibaut sold Northup to Edwin Epps. Epps held Northup for almost 10 years, until 1853, in Avoyelles Parish.
Northup arrived in Marksville on January 1, 1853.
Finally on January 4, 1853, four months after meeting Bass, Northup regained his freedom. ===Court cases and memoir=== Northup was one of the few kidnapped free black people to regain freedom after being sold into slavery.
However, the sensational case immediately attracted national attention, and The New York Times published an article about the trial on January 20, 1853, just days after its conclusion and only two weeks after Northup's rescue. Following his acquittal, Birch demanded charges be filed against Solomon Northup for trying to defraud him of Northup's $625 purchase price by falsely claiming he was a Georgia slave for sale.
Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, 1853, at Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina. Letters by John R.
With this identification, Merrill and Russell were located and arrested. The New York trial opened on October 4, 1854.
By 1855, he was living with his daughter Margaret Stanton and her family in Queensbury, Warren County, New York.
He largely disappeared from the historical record after 1857, although a letter later reported him alive in early 1863; some commentators thought he had been kidnapped again, but historians believe it unlikely, as he would have been considered too old to bring a good price.
After more than two years of appeals, a new district attorney in New York failed to continue with the case, and it was dropped in May 1857.
He became active in the abolitionist movement and lectured on slavery on nearly two dozen occasions throughout the northeastern United States in the years before the American Civil War. During the summer of 1857, Northup was in Canada for a series of lectures.
In 1858, a newspaper reported, "It is said that Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped, sold as a slave, and afterwards recovered and restored to freedom has been again decoyed South, and is again a slave." Shortly thereafter, even his benefactor Henry B.
Smith, a Methodist minister in Vermont, had worked with Northup and former slave Tabbs Gross in the early 1860s, during the Civil War, aiding fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad.
Smith after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was made in January 1863. Northup was not listed with his family in the 1860 United States Census.
He largely disappeared from the historical record after 1857, although a letter later reported him alive in early 1863; some commentators thought he had been kidnapped again, but historians believe it unlikely, as he would have been considered too old to bring a good price.
Smith after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was made in January 1863. Northup was not listed with his family in the 1860 United States Census.
The New York state census of 1865 records his wife Anne Northup (but not Solomon); she was recorded as married, not widowed, and living with their daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and Philip Stanton, in nearby Moreau in Saratoga County. In 1870, Northup's wife was enumerated as a cook in the household of Burton C.
His description of the "Yellow House" (also known as "The Williams Slave Pen"), in view of the Capitol, has helped researchers document the history of slavery in the District of Columbia. ==Influence among scholars== Northup's memoir was reprinted in 1869. Ulrich B.
The New York state census of 1865 records his wife Anne Northup (but not Solomon); she was recorded as married, not widowed, and living with their daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and Philip Stanton, in nearby Moreau in Saratoga County. In 1870, Northup's wife was enumerated as a cook in the household of Burton C.
Northup's son, Alonzo, is included in the 1870 census for Fort Edward, New York; his household includes only him, his wife and his daughter. In 1875, Anne Northup was living in Kingsbury/Sandy Hill in Washington County, New York, and, in census information, her marital status was given as "now widowed." When Anne Northup died in 1876, some newspaper notices of her death said that she was a widow.
Northup's son, Alonzo, is included in the 1870 census for Fort Edward, New York; his household includes only him, his wife and his daughter. In 1875, Anne Northup was living in Kingsbury/Sandy Hill in Washington County, New York, and, in census information, her marital status was given as "now widowed." When Anne Northup died in 1876, some newspaper notices of her death said that she was a widow.
Northup's son, Alonzo, is included in the 1870 census for Fort Edward, New York; his household includes only him, his wife and his daughter. In 1875, Anne Northup was living in Kingsbury/Sandy Hill in Washington County, New York, and, in census information, her marital status was given as "now widowed." When Anne Northup died in 1876, some newspaper notices of her death said that she was a widow.
Mann speculated, "What his fate was is unknown to the public, but the desperate kidnappers no doubt knew." In 1909, John Henry Northup, Henry's nephew, wrote: "The last I heard of him, Sol was lecturing in Boston to help sell his book.
Phillips, in his Life and Labor in the Old South (Boston, 1929) and American Negro Slavery (New York, 1918), doubted the "authenticity" of most narratives of ex-slaves but termed Northup's memoir "a vivid account of plantation life from the under side". The scholar Kenneth M.
Phillips, in his Life and Labor in the Old South (Boston, 1929) and American Negro Slavery (New York, 1918), doubted the "authenticity" of most narratives of ex-slaves but termed Northup's memoir "a vivid account of plantation life from the under side". The scholar Kenneth M.
Smith, in letters written in the 1930s, he said that his father Rev.
Stampp often referred to Northup's memoir in his book on slavery, The Peculiar Institution (New York, 1956).
Stanley Elkins in his book, Slavery (Chicago, 1959), like Phillips and Stampp, found Northup's memoir to be of credible historical merit. Since the mid-20th century, the civil rights movement, and an increase in works of social history and in African-American studies, have brought renewed interest in Northup's memoir. The first scholarly edition of the memoir was published in 1968.
Stanley Elkins in his book, Slavery (Chicago, 1959), like Phillips and Stampp, found Northup's memoir to be of credible historical merit. Since the mid-20th century, the civil rights movement, and an increase in works of social history and in African-American studies, have brought renewed interest in Northup's memoir. The first scholarly edition of the memoir was published in 1968.
The details of his death have never been documented. Northup's memoir was adapted and produced as the 1984 television film Solomon Northup's Odyssey and the 2013 feature film 12 Years a Slave.
Co-edited by professors Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, this well-annotated LSU Press publication has been used in classrooms and by scholars since that time and is still in print. In 1998, a team of students at Union College in Schenectady, New York, with their political science professor Clifford Brown, documented Northup's historic narrative.
"They gathered photographs, family trees, bills of sale, maps and hospital records on a trail through New York, Washington [DC] and Louisiana." Their exhibit of this material was held at the college's Nott Memorial building. In his book Black Men Built the Capitol (2007), Jesse Holland notes his use of Northup's account. ==Legacy and honors== In 1999, Saratoga Springs erected a historical marker at the corner of Congress and Broadway to commemorate Northup's life.
The city later established the third Saturday in July as Solomon Northup Day, to honor him, bring regional African-American history to light, and educate the public about freedom and justice issues. In 2000, the Library of Congress accepted the program of Solomon Northup Day into the permanent archives of the American Folklife Center.
Northup was portrayed by Avery Brooks. In 2008, composer and saxophonist T.
Blue, commissioned by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), recorded Follow the North Star, a musical composition inspired by Northup's life. The episode "Division" of the 2010 television miniseries The Story of Us depicts Northup's slave auction.
The details of his death have never been documented. Northup's memoir was adapted and produced as the 1984 television film Solomon Northup's Odyssey and the 2013 feature film 12 Years a Slave.
Significant emphasis is placed on Eliza being separated from her children, and the actor portraying Northup does voiceover of direct passages from Twelve Years a Slave. The 2013 feature film 12 Years a Slave, adapted from his memoir, was written by John Ridley and directed by Steve McQueen.
A 2015 conference at Skidmore College had a gathering of Northup's descendants, and the speakers included Congressman Paul D.
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