Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave by Sue Eakin

Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave by Sue Eakin

Solomon Northup was torn from his family in Saratoga Springs, New York, and thrust into a life of servitude in Bayou Boeuf, Louisiana. Northup, a well-educated and modestly successful family man, made his living as a fiddler and carpenter. When work grew scarce, Northup was tricked into traveling to Washington, DC, hoping to earn money for his family. There, he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. For Northup, coming from a life of freedom and comparative privilege, slavery was intolerable. This powerful, first-person account, rewritten for younger readers, personalizes the experience of millions of slaves.

Sue Eakin was a history professor at Louisiana State University in Alexandria who died in 2009. She taught Louisiana history for more than four decades, giving a new perspective to the study of the state's colorful past. Eakin's earlier work includes a rewriting for younger readers of Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave (1841-1853). She lived in Bunkie, Louisiana, close to the plantation where Solomon Northrup's story was set.