Frederick Douglass
Author
Description
Solomon Northup (born c.1807) was an American abolitionist and author. Born free to a freed slave and a free African American woman, he was a professional violinist, farmer and landowner until he was offered a job as a musician in Washington D.C., where he was drugged and kidnapped by slavers. He was sold to a painter in New Orleans and remained in bondage for 12 years until a Canadian plantation worker alerted the authorities in New York. He was...
Author
Description
Before slavery was outlawed in the United States in 1865, most free Americans had little understanding of this brutal institution. One of the abolitionist movement's few tools for illustrating its horrors was the slave narrative. Memoirs written by former slaves provided hard-hitting eyewitness accounts of the day-to-day cruelties of slavery. These narratives also gave hope. With their vivid imagery and thoughtfully poignant commentary, these stories...