Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup was a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery in the American South. Despite his free status, he endured over a decade of forced labor on plantations before he was able to regain his freedom. His detailed memoir, *Twelve Years a Slave*, provides a powerful account of his experiences and the brutality of slavery. Northup's story highlights the threats to free Black individuals at the time and sheds light on the systemic injustice and inhumanity of slavery in the United States.