The Oscar winning motion picture Twelve Years a Slave tells the story of historical figure Solomon Northup and his life in Louisiana as a free man of color duped and sold into slavery.
Solomon’s origins can be traced directly back to the Northup family of North Kingstown, who arrived from Providence before 1671. Solomon’s father Mintus belonged to the John Holmes Northup family that migrated from North Kingstown to Hebron, NY around 1788. John’s sons Nicholas Northup and Henry Bliss Northup of Sandy Hill, New York both offered testimony used to grant Solomon his freedom in 1853. The Northups descended from the Bliss and Carr families of Newport.