Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is a memoir and slave narrative by Solomon Northup, as told to and edited by David Wilson. Solomon Northup (July 1808 – 1863?) was a free-born African American from New York, the son of a freed slave. A farmer and violinist, he owned a property in Hebron, New York. In 1841 he was kidnapped by slave-traders, having been enticed with a job offer as a violinist. When he accompanied his supposed employers to Washington, DC, they drugged him and sold h