who kidnapped solomon northup

Samuel Bass, an anti-slavery Canadian carpenter visiting the Beouf plantation, befriended Northup and reached out to friends of the musician back in Saratoga Springs, looking for verification that he had been a free member of the community. There he was drugged by the men, held captive, severely beaten and sold into slavery in Louisiana. His father Mintus had once been enslaved but was released upon his former master's death, and hence Solomon and his older brother Joseph grew up knowing freedom. Special thanks to SaratogaPhotographer.com for many of the beautiful photos featured on this site. http://historywinks.tumblr.com/post/51233463879/sncivwar, Historian Spotlight: Ulster County’s Ken Hasbrouck, Reconsidering the Legacy of Alexander Hamilton, Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary, State Proposes Removal of Historic DeBar Lodge Great Camp For Day Use Area, Aerial Photos: New York Rural History From Above, DEC Proposes Expanded Deer Hunting for Southern Zone, A Ghost of American Patriot Colonel Jacob Griffin. Some of these […] The same year Northup published the narrative/memoir Twelve Years a Slave. Prue, who had worked his way back to Columbus, was located quickly, and Hight was also found and released from a Louisville slave pen by (to his credit) Judge Graves. Governor John A. He observed and later recounted the plight of others like Eliza, whose young son Randall was sold and taken away from her at an auction in New Orleans. He was lured south and kidnapped in 1841 and enslaved for more than a … Lawyer Henry B. Northup, who was part of the family from which Mintus and his clan took their name, travelled south and facilitated Solomon's release in 1853. A number of incidents took place in New York City during this time. William Lloyd Garrison was an American journalistic crusader who helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the United States. His experiences are the subject of the book and film 12 Years a Slave. and later the subject of the Oscar winning movie of the same name. In its first annual report in 1837, the committee stated it had assisted over 300 blacks who were accused of being runaway slaves, and therefore in danger of being taken away by slavecatchers. According to Anderson, Thomas had hired him in New York for a job in Pennsylvania, but had instead taken him to Richmond and sold him. In Northup's autobiography, he describes how the men he'd originally trusted drugged him, kidnapped him, and held in a slave pen in Washington D.C. He worked at various Saratoga hotels, including the Grand Union Hotel, as a performer and a violinist. He is widely known for 'Roots' and 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X. They left New York by train, but did not stop at Newark. Thanks for this article. Two developments ensured kidnappers had a comfortable environment to work in: passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 (which the New York Evening Post called the “law for the encouragement of kidnapping”) made it even harder for blacks to assert their free status; and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1857 ruling, in the Dred Scott case, that no blacks–whether slaves or freemen–were entitled to standing in the federal courts. His memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, was published in 1853 and is still in print and widely popular. Northup tried to bring his captors to trial, but they were never prosecuted, partly because the law at the time stipulated that as a black man, Northup could not testify against a white man in court. Through a collaborative effort lead by a Canadian man and Northup's wife (garnering support from residents of Saratoga, neighboring communities and Louisiana), Northup's freedom was eventually won in court, and he returned home. In Northup's autobiography, he describes how the men he'd originally trusted drugged him, kidnapped him, and held in a slave pen in Washington D.C. February 6, 2014 by David Fiske 2 Comments. Surely there were crimes that were never fully investigated (it may have been felt that a teenager had run away from home, or that a spouse had left a troubled marriage), and many victims lived in slavery until death or emancipation, whichever came first. Subscribe! Northup was born in July 1808 in Minerva, New York. The New York authorities provided confirmation, and brought both Anderson and his abductor, Mason Thomas, back to New York. He accepted, not suspecting that these men had evil intentions. In 2013, the film 12 Years a Slave, based on the book by Northup and directed by British filmmaker Steve McQueen, was released. The work, known for its meticulousness and thoughtful quality, became a top seller and aided the abolitionist cause, later becoming an important, public historical document. Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an active abolitionist and the first female African American newspaper editor in North America. Northup’s victimization was not unique, however, and there were numerous cases–in New York State alone–of free blacks being kidnapped for the purpose of being sold as slaves. In March 1858, a man and woman convinced the parents of 14-year-old Sarah Taylor (also known as  Sarah Harrison) to allow them to take her to Newark, N. J. where she would work as a servant. In November 1857, a young store clerk named Napoleon Bonaparte Van Tuyl convinced two men from Geneva, New York to go with him to Columbus, Ohio, where they would have good jobs at a hotel. Northup was forced to do a variety of tasks while in captivity and never revealed to his peers that he had once lived free for fear of him being sent farther away. The couple went on to have three children — Elizabeth, Margaret and Alonzo. The second man, John Hight, was taken to Kentucky and sold, eventually coming into the hands of Judge Lorenzo Graves. Without his free papers, Northup was considered an escaped slave. Follow, like and subscribe to saratoga.com on social media. After the trip to New York, Northup agreed to continue to travel with them to Washington D.C. In the capital, slavery was still legal at the time, meaning that Northup's freedom could easily come under question. I had known about the Geneva and Watertown kidnapping cases, but was glad to get more details about George Armstrong’s experiences. When he was finally allowed up on deck, he jumped off the ship, and ran home. Newspapers in the District of Columbia also implied that Armstrong was conspiring to sell himself and share in the proceeds, in the same way–it implied–that Northup had done (allegations that Northup had colluded in his kidnapping were made over the years, but were never substantiated, and were vehemently denied by Northup in his book). 1808 Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853 Auburn [N.Y.]: Derby and Miller, 1853. Years later, filmmaker/photographer Gordon Parks released an American Playhouse film on Northup's life, Solomon Northup's Odyssey. It reads: SOLOMON NORTHUP: Born 1808 a free man, lured from Saratoga, kidnapped and sold into slavery, 1841; Rescued, 1853. Founded by Saratoga native Renee Moore in 1999, "Solomon Northup Day -- A Celebration of Freedom" is now celebrated annually every third Saturday in July (Northup's birth month). Armstrong was represented by counsel, and Watertown resident John A. Haddock went to Washington and testified that Armstrong was a free man whom he had known for 15 years. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. ', American essayist, poet and practical philosopher, Henry David Thoreau was a New England Transcendentalist and author of the book 'Walden.'. The man was sentenced to five years in prison, but was pardoned the following winter by Governor Edwin D. Morgan, and returned to his native Canada. The film “12 Years a Slave” is raising global awareness of Solomon Northup’s story of being kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War. Under the American slavery system, it was not only the slaves who suffered. In 1841, Northup was walking the streets of Saratoga one day looking for work when two white men approached him, offering him an opportunity to play his violin in NYC. He was beaten and sold into slavery in Louisiana, where he … David Sedaris is a humorist and essayist best known for his sardonic autobiographical stories and social commentary. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. He exited the train near Dayton and managed to foil efforts by Van Tuyl and other train passengers to recapture him.