Solomon Northup: 12 Years a Slave
Solomon Northup (circa 1807/1808 to circa 1857/1864) was a free-born African American living in New York State when he was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup was held in bondage for 12 years before he was freed through the efforts of friends and family in New York and documented his experience in his memoir Twelve Years a Slave (1853).
Northup's case is the best known, but kidnapping free Blacks – from both free and slave states – and selling them into slavery further south, was quite common during the same timeframe – circa 1780-1865 – that the Underground Railroad was in operation, freeing people from slavery. The term "Reverse Underground Railroad" – referring to the practice of kidnapping free Blacks or freedom seekers (fugitive slaves) – came into use among slavers during this time to mock the efforts of the Underground Railroad.
The only proof a free Black person had that they were free were official papers, which they carried at all times, but these were easily taken and destroyed. Slavers would then make up a name for their victim and a back story and sell them, often for a significant sum. The abolitionist Dr. John Doy (famous for his rescue from prison by The Immortal Ten in 1859) records an instance of this in his The Narrative of John Doy, of Lawrence Kansas (1860) describing how a Black man he knew to be free was claimed by a White Missouri farmer to be his slave and was sold.
This is exactly what happened to Northup, who, after he was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., was renamed "Platt Hamilton", given a fictitious backstory, and sold into slavery in New Orleans. He was helped by a Canadian abolitionist and carpenter, Samuel Bass (1807-1853), who was working on the house of Northup's master in 1852. Overhearing Bass express abolitionist views, Northup told him his story, and Bass wrote to Northup's family in the North, who were then able to free him in January 1853. Northup's book inspired the 2013 Hollywood film Twelve Years a Slave starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, regarded as an accurate cinematic version of his book.
Northup's Life & Kidnapping
Solomon Northup was born on 10 July 1807/1808 to a free woman and a former slave who had been freed. He had an older brother, Joseph, and since both were born of a free woman, both were free. His father chose Northup as the family name in honor of his late master, who had freed him.
Northup grew up working on farms and canals, learned to read and write, and became proficient with the violin, eventually becoming a popular entertainer. He married Anne Hampton on 25 December 1829, and they had three children: Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. In 1834, the family moved to Saratoga Springs, New York, where Anne worked as a cook and Solomon as a musician.
In April 1841, when Anne was 20 miles (32 km) away at work (with Elizabeth), and the two other children were with their aunt, two men – going by the names Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton – offered Northup a quick gig playing music for their show in New York City and for a circus they were involved with in Washington, D.C. Northup took the job, traveled with the men to Manhattan and then to Washington, D.C., where he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold to the slave trader James H. Birch who then sent him to his partner, Theophilus Freeman, in New Orleans.
Read More
⇒ Solomon Northup: 12 Years a Slave
