Describe Northups life before slavery. Explain how he became a slave, and how he finally escaped Early life. Solomon was born in New York in 1808. His father was a former slave who had been freed by his master in his will. Somehow his father Mistus managed to make sure that his children received an education that was better than the usual for Americans of African descent including learning to play the violin. He also worked on his fathers farm. Solomon said that though his father was affectionate towards his former masters family, but he still hated the idea of slavery with its degradation of his people.
Eventually his father was buried at Sandy Hill and Solomon recounts how during his darkest days he wished he was in the grave with him. In 1829 Solomon married a mulatto woman. Anne Hampton. He worked as a labourer in Hartford and they had three children, Elizabeth, Margaret and Alonzo. Captivity In 1841 he visited Washington and during his stay was captured by slave traders who sold him to a man from Louisiana. It happened when he was heard playing his violin in Saratoga Springs.
He was approached by men claiming to work for a circus. They offered him work and explained that circus was in Washington and they would need to travel there first before returning North. Soloman went with them without informing his family. While in Washington he became very ill, possibly having been poisoned. He was ill for a number of days and when he finally came to full conciousness found himself in chains.His captor was James Burch, a well known trader and partner of Theophilus Freeman of New Orleans. Ebenezer Radburn assisted Burch in the capture. A slave was considered to be property to be bought and sold.
The Term Paper on Founding Fathers Slavery Slave Black
I've discovered the real roots of America these past few days and decided that writing about it was better than killing an innocent victim to soothe the hostility I feel towards my heritage. I picked up a pen because it was safer than a gun. This was a valuable lesson I've learned from my forefathers, who did both. Others in my country react on instinct and choose not to deliberate the issue as I ...
Many white people at the time saw slavery as good for the negro in that he was exposed to civilisation as they saw it. Slave owners in the south would distribute leaflets claiming that their slaves were happier than free men in the north who were badly treated by their employers. The slaves life was extremely restricted as well as hard. He was not supposed to learn to read or write. He could not marry or leave his masters property without permission, could make no contracts or become property owners and his word was invalid in law against a white man. Slavery was still legal in the Washington of that day and free black men would have carried papers in order to travel there.
He had such papers but they didnt protect him. Solomon was confined in a 12 ft square cell. The room contained a bench and a box stove, but no bed or bedding. It was part of a larger complex which Northup described as like a barnyard, but so constructed that no one out side could see what went on within. He notes the irony of the fact that it was within sight of the Capitol, where politicians talked about freedom, equality and civil rights. Burch had got him there by trickery and despite his protests that he was a freeman , a resident of Saratoga where he had a wife and children.
Burch ignored these truths and proclaimed that he was a runaway from Georgia. Solomon continued to protest and demanded that his chains be removed but to no avail. He so intimidated Solomon that he brainwashed him into saying that he had never been free. It was 12 years later before he felt able to tell anyone the truth. Next Solomon speaks of being in New Orleans where the slaves washed and shaved and were given new clothes and trained in how they should behave. Next day the customers arrived. Solomon describes this in detail how some seemed happy at their fate as they were being kept with those they loved, but he describes too how families were split and the anguish this caused. He was renamed Platt and belonged to several different owners during the next twelve years. His obvious education and his musical abilities set him apart from the other slaves In chapter 4 Solomon talks of his violin and the consolation this was to him during his years of slavery. Escape Eventually he was rescued from a cotton plantation in the Red River Valley in Louisiana in 1853.
The Term Paper on The Slave Years Of Frederick Douglass
The Slave Years of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was born a slave in 1817 as Frederick Bailey on a farm in Tuckahoe, near Easton town in Talbot County, Maryland. The owner of the farm, Captain Anthony, was Frederick's first master. Frederick's mother, Harriet Bailey, worked for long hours in the fields of Captain Anthony's farm situated twelve miles away from their home. Because of this, ...
this came about because of his meeting the previous year with Samuel Bass, a white carpenter who agreed to contact his former New York acquaintances. Henry Northup travelled south and with legal help from John Waddill was able to have him freed and restored to his family. Soon after his return home a local lawyer met him and offered to collaborate on a book about his experiences. Wilson was Solomons amenuensis despite the fact that Solomon was literate. Later editions of the book carry adedication to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Works cited Northup, Solomon, Twelve years a slave first published 1853, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASnorthup.h tm retrieved 1/3/07.
