Solomon Northup (1808–c. 1863) was a free man kidnapped and
forced into slavery in 1851. The details of his life after the
publication of his acclaimed memoir are unknown.
Ira Berlin is Distinguished Professor of History at the
University of Maryland, College Park. His many books include The
Making of African America and Many Thousands Gone, winner of the
Bancroft Prize and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle
Award.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is Alphonse Fletcher University
Professor and director of the W. E. B Du Bois Institute for African
and African American Research at Harvard University. He lives in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“I could not believe that I had never heard of this book. It felt
as important as Anne Frank’s Diary, only published nearly a hundred
years before. . . . The book blew [my] mind: the epic range, the
details, the adventure, the horror, and the humanity. . . . I hope
my film can play a part in drawing attention to this important book
of courage. Solomon’s bravery and life deserve nothing less.”
—Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, from the Foreword
“Frightening, gripping and inspiring . . . Northup’s story seems
almost biblical, structured as it is as a descent and resurrection
narrative of a protagonist who, like Christ, was 33 at the time of
his abduction. . . . Northup reminds us of the fragile nature of
freedom in any human society and the harsh reality that whatever
legal boundaries existed between so-called free states and slave
states in 1841, no black man, woman or child was permanently safe.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., from the Afterword
“For sheer drama, few accounts of slavery match Solomon Northup’s
tale of abduction from freedom and forcible enslavement.” —Ira
Berlin, from the Introduction
“If you think the movie offers a terrible-enough portrait of
slavery, please, do read the book. . . . The film is stupendous
art, but it owes much to a priceless piece of document. Solomon
Northup’s memoir is history. . . . His was not simply an
extraordinary story, but an account of the life of a great many
ordinary people.” —The Daily Beast
“An incredible document, amazingly told and structured. Tough, but
riveting. The movie of it by Steve McQueen might be the most
successful adaptation of a book ever undertaken; text and film
complement each other wildly.” —Rachel Kushner, The New York Times
Book Review
“The best firsthand account of slavery.” —James M. McPherson,
Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, in The New
York Times Book Review
“Northup published a memoir of his 12-year nightmare in 1853, the
year after Uncle Tom’s Cabin came out, and it was so successful
that he went on to participate in two stage adaptations. The book
dropped from sight in the 20th century, but the movie tie-in will
certainly reestablish its virtually unique status as a work by an
educated free man who managed to return from slavery.” —The
Hollywood Reporter
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