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Twelve Years a Slave (1853; sub-title: 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), by Solomon Northup as told to David Wilson, is a memoir of a black man born free in New York State but kidnapped, sold into slavery and held in bondage in Louisiana before the American Civil War. Northup's account provided details of slave markets in Washington, DC, and describes at length cotton and cane cultivation techniques on plantations in Louisiana. Published soon after Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which significantly changed public opinion in favor of abolition, Northup's book sold 30,000 copies and was considered a bestseller. The first-hand account of his lengthy bondage further roiled the national political debate over slavery leading up to the Civil War. The account drew passionate endorsements deeming it “proof” of the validity of Stowe’s fictional account from Frederick Douglas and major Northern newspapers, anti-slavery organizations, and evangelical groups. After several editions in the 19th Century, the work fell into obscurity until 1931, when a 12-year old Louisiana girl (the future Dr.[Sue Eakin]) found the volume in a Louisiana plantation house and made its validation her life’s work.

Synopsis

In Upstate New York, black freeman Solomon Northup, a skilled carpenter and fiddler, was approached by two circus promoters who offered him a brief, high paying stint with their traveling circus; unable to inform his wife, he traveled south with the strangers in good spirits, chancing upon President Harrison's funeral in the nation's capital, sharing a beer in a bar. The next morning he found himself drugged, bound and moved unconscious to a slave pen. On new papers provided, his name had been changed to "Platt" and his birthplace in Georgia. When Northup asserted his rights as freeman, Burch beat him severely and warned death would be his fate if he ever again mentioned his free life in New York. Northup took heed.

(Note: Slave trader James Burch ran the pen located in the Yellow House, one of several slave markets once on the National Mall. This and Robey’s Tavern were located in the area between the present-day buildings housing the Department of Education and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, within view of the Capitol.)

Transported with other slaves to New Orleans, Louisiana by ship, Northup and other enslaved blacks contracted smallpox and some died. In transit, Northup emplored a sympathetic sailor to get a message to his family, which succeded, but the family did not know his destination location in Louisiana, nor that he was sold under the assigned name of "Platt," preventing their future efforts to find him. In New Orleans, Northup was first sold by Burch's partner to a planter on a bayou of the Red River, and subsequently had several different area owners during his 12 year bondage. At times, his carpentry and other skills earned him better treatment, but cruelty was his lot more often than not. The contrast with his previous life made the deprivations and sufferings of slavery worse: the meager slave diet, a cabin with a dirt floor, poor clothing; restrictions on his freedom, and numerous beatings and physical punishment. At one time, he was leased to a man named Tibbets, who lost his temper and attacked him with an axe. Northup fought back, for which he suffered great reprisals. Never, in 12 years, did he reveal his freeman history to a single slave or owner.

Finally he took a risk with Samuel Bass, a white carpenter from Canada, who obviously did not share the racial prejudice of white men in the area, and ultimately confided his story. Seasons passed before Bass eventually delivered a letter to Northup’s wife, who called on Henry Northup, the white attorney who once held and freed Solomon Northup's father. Henry Northup contacted New York state officials and the governor appointed him as an agent, under current state law, to go to Louisiana to free Solomon Northup. At last, Solomon Northup left the plantation in a carriage to the thrill of his fellow slaves--and a murderous rant from his longtime "owner."

Court case

Northup decided to press charges against the slave traders in Washington whom he could identify; the two circus promotors were not found at first. The case was tried in Washington, DC, as he was sold there, but, as a free black, Northup was not allowed to testify against the white men, under the District's law. One of them sued Northup and he had to defend himself in court; they dropped the charges and Northup went free. The case had won national attention, and The New York Times covered the trial on January 20, 1853.

Reception and historical value

Northup's account describes the daily life of slaves at Bayou Boeuf in Louisiana, their diet and living conditions, the relationship between the master and slave, and the means that slave catchers had used to recapture runaways. Northup's slave narrative has details similar to that of some other authors, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs or William Wells Brown, but he was unique in being kidnapped as a free man and sold into slavery. His book was a bestseller, rapidly selling 30,000 copies in the years before the American Civil War.

After additional printings in the 19th century, the book went out-of-print until 1968, when writer-historian Dr. Sue Eakin restored it to prominence. Dr. Eakin spent six decades validating Solomon Northup’s tale by retracing his journey through her native Bayou Boeuf plantation country in central Louisiana, where his bondage took place, through the slave sales records of New Orleans and Washington, DC, and further documenting his New York State origins, his father’s freeman’s decree and the legal work which restored Northup’s freedom and prosecuted his abductors. In 1968, Eakin’s heavily footnoted edition of the original book was published by Louisiana State University Press, shedding new light on Northup’s story and establishing its historic significance. In 2007, Dr. Eakin completed development of an updated and expanded version that includes over 150 pages of new background material, maps and photographs, shortly before her death at age 90. In 2013, e-book and audiobook versions of her final definitive edition were released in her honor. Scholars may use her lifetime archives through The Sue Eakin Collection, LSU at Alexandria, La.

Historian Jesse Holland noted in a 2009 interview that he had relied on Northup's memoir and detailed description of Washington in 1841 to identify the location of some slave markets. Holland has also researched the roles of ethnic African slaves as skilled laborers who helped build some of the important public buildings in Washington, including the Capitol and part of the original Executive Mansion.

Legacy and honors

• Annually, Saratoga Springs celebrates Solomon Northup Day and has added material on him to an historic exhibit.

• In 1968, Louisiana historian Dr. Sue Eakin, along with Professor Joseph Logsdon, published an edited and annotated version of Northup's narrative. "Twelve Years a Slave" footnoted edition, Louisiana State University Press, 1968, and 2007 online edition"Richard P. Sharkey, "Noted Louisiana historian Sue Eakin of Bunkie dead at 90"". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. Retrieved September 21, 2009. </ref>

• In 2007, Dr. Eakin updated and expanded her 1968 edition with additional images and support material.

• In 2012, David Fiske published a biography, entitled Solomon Northup: His Life Before and After Slavery. The book's Appendix C provides the publishing history for Twelve Years a Slave during the 19th century. (See Solomon Northup page, David Fiske website.)

• In 2013, an e-book and new audiobook of "Twelve Years a Slave" were released and dedicated to Dr. Eakin.

Online versions

• An e-book version of Dr. Sue Eakin’s expanded edition of “Twelve Years a Slave” was released in 2013. Twelve Years 2007 Update

• An audiobook version of “Twelve Years a Slave,” dedicated to Dr. Eakin and narrated by Oscar ™ Winner and Emmy™ Winner Louis Gossett, Jr., was released in early 2013. INSERT REFERENCE

• Twelve Years a Slave is also available from

Documenting the American South, Google Books, Project Gutenberg and other sources.

Representation in other media

• An audiobook version of “12 Years a Slave,” narrated by Oscar ™ Winner and Emmy™ Winner Louis Gossett, Jr., and dedicated to Dr. Eakin, was released in early 2013.

See also: Twelve Years a Slave (film)

• A made-for-television film, Solomon Northup's Odyssey (1984), was directed by Gordon Parks.
• The British director Steve McQueen co-wrote a script with John Ridley to adapt Northup's memoir as a film by the same name. The British award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor will star as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, a German-Irish actor, will play Edwin Epps, Northup's last "owner", while planter and Baptist preacher William Ford- will be played by British Olivier-award winning actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Brad Pitt will play the role of Henry B. Northup, the attorney and family friend. Tibbets, who attacked Northup with an axe, will be played by BAFTA nominated actor Paul Dano, and rising star Quvenzhané Wallis will also play a role. Filming started in June 2012, with a likely release date during 2013.