'12 Years A Slave' true story based on Solomon Northup
"12
Years A Slave" is an upcoming 2013 biographical movie, which touts itself
as "based on the true story of Solomon Northup." The historical drama takes
it's inspiration from Northup's novel by the same name and the screenplay
written by John Ridley.
"12
Years A Slave" is about an expert
violin player and free Black man from New York, who is befriended by a man who
eventually tricks him into believing that he will be given a job. Instead he is
sold into slavery for 12 years. During his captivity, Solomon tells anyone who
will listen that he is Solomon Northup-a free Black man.
The
movie chronicles his fight to survive and his quest to recapture the life of
dignity to which he was accustomed before his enslavement, according to Variety.
The
real story began in 1841, when Solomon Northup was approached by Merrill Brown
and Abram Hamilton, who feigned interest in his musical skills. After
convincing Northup to accompany them to Washington, DC, he was drugged and
beaten before being sold to tyrannical slave owners in New Orleans, where he
was held captive for 12 years. During his captivity, Northup endured the most
brutal beatings imaginable. He did not regain his freedom until 1853.
The
real Solomon Northup published his horrible experiences in his memoir "12
Years A Slave." Another movie about Northup debuted as a television movie
in 1984 under the title "Solomon Northup's Odyssey."
Researcher's
estimate Solomon Northup's death year to have occurred between 1863 and 1875.
The exact date and cause of his death are not known.
The
slave movie, which is set to be in theaters on October 18, has themes of
violence, cruelty and sexual situations.
(ALSO)
Solomon Northup
Illustration from Twelve
Years a Slave(1855)
Solomon
Northup[Note 1] (July 1808 – after 1857) was a
free-born African American from Saratoga Springs, New York. He is noted
for having been kidnapped in 1841 when enticed with a job offer. When he
accompanied his supposed employers to Washington, DC, they drugged him and sold him
into slavery. From
Washington, DC, he was transported to New Orleans where he was sold to a
plantation owner from Rapides Parish, Louisiana. After 12
years in bondage, he regained his freedom in January 1853;[1] he was one of very few to do so in such cases. Held
in the Red River region of Louisiana by several different owners, he
got news to his family, who contacted friends and enlisted the Governor of New York in his
cause. New York state had passed a law in 1840 to recover African-American residents
who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Northup sued the slave traders in Washington, DC, but lost in
the local court. District of Columbia law prohibited him as a black man from
testifying against whites and, without his testimony, he was unable to sue for
civil damages. However, the two men were charged with the crime of kidnapping
and remanded into custody on $5000 bail.[2] However, without Northup's testimony, a conviction
could not be secured and the men were released.[3] Returning to his family in New York, Northup became
active in abolitionism. He published
an account of his experiences in Twelve Years a
Slave (1853) in his first year of freedom. Northup gave dozens
of lectures throughout the North-East on his experiences as a slave,[4] in order to support the abolitionist cause.
In the early 1860s, Northup, along with another black man, aided
a Methodist minister in Vermont in helping fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad.[5][6] The circumstances of Northup's death are uncertain.
Solomon Northup's memoir was reprinted several times later in
the 19th century. An annotated version was published in 1968, edited by Sue
Eakin and Joseph Logsdon. The memoir was adapted and produced as a2013 film by the same name by Steve McQueen,
starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as
Northup. Since 1999, Saratoga Springs, New York, has celebrated an annual
Solomon Northup Day.
A nation of
fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
Exodus 21:16
Exodus 21:16
And he
that stealeth a man, and
selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
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