Solomon Northrup (1807- between 1857-1864)
Born to a freed black man and a free woman of colour, Solomon Northrup was a free-born African-American and an American abolitionist. He grew up in a relatively enlightened New York, which had abolished slavery in 1799. His father's freedom and successful farming business enabled Solomon and his brothers to receive an education and music lessons. He grew up to become a professional musician, specializing in playing the violin.
However, Northrup's freedom was exclusive to his life in New York. It wasn't up until the end of the Civil War, in 1865, that the institution of slavery was abolished in the United States in its entirety. Northrup's freedom came to a very long, cruel, and painful pause when he was deceived into going to Washington DC on the pretext of being hired as a travelling musician. There, he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Northrup spent the next 12 years enslaved, captive, in New Orleans where he experienced inhumane conditions under a cruel planter. Solomon Northrup regained his freedom on January 3, 1853 through the help of Samuel Bass, a Canadian working on the plantation. Northrup's freedom came after a long struggle, and while justice due to him was not entirely delivered, his lived experience was revealed to the world in the form of his memoir, 12 Years A Slave.
