Author(s): Solomon Northup

Classic Fiction

Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is a memoir and narrative of a slave by Solomon Northup, narrated and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a free-born black man in New York City, details his kidnapping in Washington, D.C. and subsequent sale into slavery. After being held in slavery for 12 years in Louisiana by various masters, Northup was able to write to friends and family in New York who were able to secure his release. Northup's account provides extensive details of the slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, and describes in detail the cultivation of cotton and sugar on Louisiana's major plantations.