Follow Solomon Northup’s journey at Freedom Center
Northup’s story, ‘12 Years a Slave,’ took Oscar for Best Picture.
Long before “12 Years a Slave” received nine Oscar nominations and became the Oscar winner for Best Picture of the Year, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center was telling the tragic and inspirational story of Solomon Northup.
Visitors to the Cincinnati museum are now able to trace Northup’s historic journey — from freedom to slavery and back again — through a documentary film and a dramatic self-guided tour.
“I think ‘12 Years a Slave’ is an incredibly real and raw experience to watch, and our tour helps people continue to process what they’ve seen in the film,” said Brooke Hathaway, co-curator of the museum’s Solomon Northup tour.
The free 39-page brochure guides visitors as they make their way through the tour’s seven stops. The new tour — created specifically for “12 Years a Slave” — provides historical context for what Northup might have experienced as a slave and the role of abolitionists in helping him to regain his freedom. In addition to the tour, the documentary is shown hourly.
“The Freedom Center believes in the power of stories and Solomon’s story helps bring history to life in ways that facts can’t,” Hathaway said. “You’ll learn about Cincinnati in 1841 as well as Saratoga because that’s the year and the place where Solomon was captured and sold into
slavery. You’ll get to stand in a real slave pen from the 19th century, and imagine what it would have been like for Solomon as a free man sold into slavery. He woke up in a slave pen just like ours.”
The museum has recently acquired a first edition of Solomon’s memoir, originally published in 1853, on which the “12 Years a Slave” is based.
How it began
The museum’s involvement with Northup’s true story began in 2012 when it collaborated on a documentary with the U.S. Department of State and Google to honor the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Entitled “Journey to Freedom,” the 38-minute film has been shown in more than 55 U.S. embassies and is shown daily at the Freedom Center.
“When we produced it, we had no idea there was going to be a Hollywood movie!” explained Hathaway. “Our film tells the true stories of two men who were sold into slavery 150 years apart — Solomon Northup and a 21st century Cambodian man by the name of Vannak Prum.”
As a result of the documentary, Underground Railroad museum personnel connected with the Eakin family of Louisiana.
“Frank Eakin’s mother, Dr. Sue Eakin, rediscovered Solomon’s memoir and a lifetime verifying the information,” Hathaway said. “She published an edited version of his story in 1968 and included maps and photos. In director Steve McQueen’s acceptance speech for Best Picture, he referenced Sue Eakin and thanked her for rediscovering Solomon’s story and giving her life’s work to preserving Solomon’s book.”
Meeting the movie folks
In an amazing coincidence, Hathaway found herself traveling to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where Solomon Northup had grown up and was captured.
“Saratoga is also my hometown!” Hathaway said. “I hadn’t known the story when I was growing up, but my grandfather is an historian so he, of course, knew the story. I was there in July for the annual Solomon Northup Day. It was incredible.”
A highlight of her trip was the opportunity to meet some of Solomon Northup’s descendants — who came from throughout the country — as well as Fox Searchlight movie producers. She also net Lupita Nyong’o, the Mexican-Kenyan actress who earned the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her heart-wrenching portrayal of the slave, Patsey.
“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is due to so much pain in someone else’s,” Nyong’o said in her Academy Award acceptance speech.
Hathaway, who was able to screen about 15 minutes of the unedited film on her trip, said she knew immediately that the film was going to be incredible.
“They did a fantastic job of keeping historical accuracy,” she said. “Only very minor details were altered.”
“Slavery didn’t end with the Emancipation Proclamation or men like Solomon being freed,” Hathaway insists. “Right now there are between 21 and 30 million people enslaved in the world — including right here in the United States.”