Solomon Northup (c. 1808–after 1857) was a free Black man from New York, a skilled carpenter, and violinist who was kidnapped in Washington D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana, where he endured 12 years of brutal bondage before being rescued. He documented his harrowing experiences in his bestselling 1853 memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, becoming a prominent abolitionist speaker after his freedom was restored.
