Jordan Johnson
History 1301
September 25, 2014
Book Report 12 Years A Slave Black man Solomon Northup lives as a free man in Saratoga, New York with his wife and two children him earning a living as a violinist. In 1841 he was kidnapped by slave traders, having been enticed to Washington, D.C. (where slavery was legal) with a job offer as a violinist with traveling entertainers. Shortly after he and his employers arrived in DC, they sold him as a slave, having drugged him into unconsciousness to effect the kidnapping. He was then shipped to New Orleans where he was sold to a planter in Louisiana. He was held in the Red River region of Louisiana by several different owners for 12 years. Aside from a brief communication when he was first kidnapped, his family and friends had no knowledge of him. He attempted to get word to them and to regain his freedom, but the systems guarding slaves were too pervasive to allow it. 12 years of being thrown into the slavery against his will, he rightfully regained his freedom in January 3, 1853 all because he came in contact with an abolitionist from Canada, who sent letters to his family about his situation. He soon returned to his family in Saratoga, New York. Solomon was one of the few victims of kidnapping to regain freedom from slavery. Also, Solomon brought the men that were responsible for his abduction to trial. He was unable to testify against the whites in the nation's capital, he lost the case against the slave pen owner, James Burch. After lengthy legal proceedings in New York, his kidnappers hamilton and brown also avoided prosecution. In his first year of freedom, Solomon wrote and published a memoir, Twelve Years a Slave (1853). He became active in the abolitionist movement, lectured on slavery throughout the Northeastern United States and aided fugitive slaves on the underground railroad. The date, and