Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup (born 1807 or 1808) was an African American farmer and musician from upstate New York, born free and living at Saratoga Springs with his family when, in 1841, two men lured him to Washington with the promise of work as a fiddler, drugged him and sold him into slavery. He was held for twelve years on plantations in the Red River country of Louisiana until a letter reached friends in New York and he was freed in January 1853. Twelve Years a Slave, written with the help of David Wilson, appeared that year. He lectured for the abolitionist cause; the date and place of his death are unknown.