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

Book overview In 2013, the release of the critically acclaimed Twelve Years a Slave once again shined the spotlight on slave narratives, and while his had toiled in relative obscurity since the late 19th century, the movie’s depiction of Solomon Northup’s slave narrative pushed him front and center yet again.

Northup’s life was quite unique because he was born a free African-American in the state of New York, and he spent the first 33 years of his life living as a free man there.