QDid Solomon's kidnappers really drug him?
AAs he indicated in his autobiography, Solomon Northup is not positive that he was in fact drugged, however, he remembers various clues that led him to that conclusion. He had spent the day with Alexander Merrill and Joseph Russell making stops at a number of saloons in Washington, D.C. They were observing the festivities that were part of the great funeral procession of General Harrison. At the saloons, the two men would serve themselves, and they would then pour a glass and hand it to Solomon. As he states in his memoir, he did not become intoxicated. By late afternoon, he fell ill with a severe headache and nausea. His sickness progressed until he was insensible by evening. He was unable to sleep and was stricken with severe thirst. He recalls several people entering the room where he had been staying. They told him that he needed to come with them to see a physician. Shortly after leaving his room and heading into the streets, his memory escapes him and the next thing he remembers is waking up handcuffed and chained to the floor of the Williams Slave Pen in Washington, D.C.
QIs '12 Years a Slave' based on a book?
AYes. 12 Years a Slave is based on an 1853 memoir of the same title by Solomon Northup [1808-1863?], born free in New York but kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. He spent the next 12 years working on plantations in Louisiana until his release in 1853. Northup's memoir was adapted for the film by American screenwriter John Ridley. The movie won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. Northup's memoir was also the source for the 1984 made-for-TV movie, American Playhouse: Solomon Northup's Odyssey (#4.3) (1984).
QDid Solomon really play the violin?
AYes. Solomon began playing the violin during the leisure hours of his youth, after he finished his main duty of helping his father on the farm. In his memoir, he calls the violin "the ruling passion of my youth," going on to say, "It has also been the source of consolation since, affording pleasure to the simple beings with whom my lot was cast, and beguiling my own thoughts, for many hours, from the painful contemplation of my fate."
Share this