Solomon Northup (1808–1857) was a free-born African American from Upstate New York (including the Adirondacks, Washington County, and Saratoga Springs). In 1841, he was kidnapped and forced into slavery for 12 years in Louisiana before the Civil War. With the help of his family and his father’s former master, Northup ultimately won his freedom and took the traders who betrayed him to court.Northup is best known for his autobiographical account of his enslavement, Twelve Years a Slave. His 1853 memoir provided details of slave markets in Washington, DC, as well as describing at length cotton cultivation on major plantations in Louisiana.
Solomon Northup’s dozen years surviving slavery is a tragic but increasingly well-known story. The film based on his autobiography, 12 Years A Slave, won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Yet less told is the story of his wife Anne, who spent those same dozen years surviving society. She maintained her family despite living in a land that granted her virtually no rights or representation.
How does one exist, labor, and progress in a place where both sex and race counted against them? And how can her story help us understand women’s’ history, African American history, and United States history more broadly?
On Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 5 pm, historian (and Adirondack resident) Connor Williams will speak at the Westport Library about Anne Northup’s life and times, explore how her story aligns with other black feminists of her age, and encourage further discussions about race and gender in America’s past.
Concluding his formal remarks, Connor will welcome questions and encourage conversation about how we might best remember Anne’s life and the times she lived in.
The event is free but a $20 suggested donation to benefit the library is suggested.
You can read more about Solomon Northup’s story in several articles published in the New York Almanack here.
Illustration: Anne Northup.
