12 Years a Slave

The narrative opens with a promise from narrator and protagonist, Solomon Northup, that the following story will “not be uninteresting to the public.” He tells the reader that the pages to come will detail his life as a free man of the North, his subsequent kidnapping, his twelve miserable years in slavery, and his eventual rescue.

Solomon Northup was born a free man in New York. The son of a liberated slave, Solomon grows up hearing of the atrocities of slavery but knowing freedom. To support his wife, Anne, and their three children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo, Solomon works hard at several jobs, be it raft-making or fiddle-playing. He loves his family dearly and his a tender father and loyal husband.