A free African man, named Solomon Northup, had a wife, two daughters, and one son. Solomon Northup was born in the free state of New York. He played a fiddle at parties and for his family. Northup and his wife, Anne, were having trouble with making enough money to feed their children as well as themselves.They both were trying to find ways to make money. Solomon played at parties with the fiddle that he loved. Well, at this time, Solomon was at a party and he just finished playing. Two older men approached him asking if he would like to come to the circus with them because they needed a musical performer and they loved his playing fiddle.

And this is where Solomon begins telling his story...

The Story Of Solomon Northup

That night when I was playing my fiddle at a party to earn some money, two men came up to me and asked if I wanted to join them on a trip to Washington D.C., where I knew slavery was legal. I obviously said no because I didn’t want to go where I could be sold into slavery. They even said that they would make sure that it couldn’t happen but I still didn’t want to take a chance. Later that night I get home with my wife Anne, making a cup of tea and my children in bed. I could tell that Anne had something on her mind that she wanted to talk about and she did. She sought a job in a kitchen in another town, she said that she would be gone a few weeks. And the next thing I knew I am packing the wagon up with my wife and my kids to help in a kitchen for money which we needed. I stayed behind to watch the house and to play the fiddle when needed.

Shortly after Anne left, those same two men who greeted me at the party, came to my house and asked again if I would join them in going to Washington D.C. Except this time they convinced me to say yes, because they said that my wife wouldn't even know that I was gone or anything. So I packed my fiddle and went on my way with them. In their  wagon we toasted to my fiddle playing, then I passed out.When I woke, I found myself in a cell-looking place, there was hay on the ground and I was wearing torn clothes. Those men tricked me and I knew it!A wealthy looking man walked in he wanted me to call him "Master". I refused. I kept yelling "I'M A FREE MAN!" He took a board and wacked me with it many times. It was excruciatingly painful. I was told by other men that I was being shipped off to New Orleans in the South.

When we to sea, I vividly remember two events, another man who was also being sold into slavery got very sick, so sick that he passed. The other memory involved a women and her two children who were brought to the ship. When we arrived at our destination, her children were taken away, her son was ill and knew he wasn't going to last long. The next day when we were being sold, she found out her son died over night. With her daughter being sold in front of her eyes, she screamed knowing she was never going to see her daughter again. Others and I were sold to a man we called "Master Ford". They finally got me to say"Master" and I wasn't happy about it . At least on the ship one of the ship crew men helped me send a letter to my wife saying what happened. And I met a wonderful woman named Jenny whose been in slavery all her life.