# Solomon Northup

## Biography

Solomon Northup was born a free man in Minerva, New York, in July 1808. He worked as a farmer and a skilled violinist, raising a family with his wife Anne Hampton. In 1841, he was deceitfully lured to Washington D.C., where he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. For twelve years, Northup endured brutal conditions on plantations in Louisiana. Throughout his enslavement, he never ceased to seek his freedom. In 1853, with the help of a Canadian carpenter named Samuel Bass, word reached Northup's family and friends in New York, who then worked with the Governor to secure his release. Upon regaining his freedom, Northup authored his powerful memoir, "Twelve Years a Slave," in 1853, recounting his harrowing experiences. He then became an active abolitionist, lecturing across the Northeast to share his story and advocate against slavery. The details of his death after 1857 remain undocumented.

## Books

- [Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana](https://samolit.com/books/95951)