Solomon Northup (July 1808―after 1857) was a free-born African American from Saratoga Springs , New York . He is noted for having been kidnapped in 1841 when enticed with a job offer. When he accompanied his supposed employers to Washington D.C., they drugged him and sold him into slavery. From Washington D.C., he was transported to New Orleans where he was sold to a plantation owner from Rapides Parish, Louisiana. After 12 years in bondage, he regained his freedom in January 1853; he was one of very few to do so in such cases. Held in the Red River region of Louisiana by several different owners, he got news to his family, who contacted friends and enlisted the Governor of New York in his cause. New York state had passed a law in 1840 to recover African-American residents who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery.

The circumstances of Northup's death are uncertain and no contemporary record of him exists from after 1857.

《為奴十二年》這本迴憶錄的作者所羅門•諾薩普，一個擁有自由的黑人小提琴手，在某個黑夜被拐賣到南方為奴，從此失去與傢人的聯係，為瞭生存他不得不掩飾自己的音樂技能，甚至要掩藏自己識字的能力。在這十二載的絕境中，曆經磨難，九死一生的他唯一不曾放棄的就是迴傢的願望。最終在一位白人木匠的幫助下得以返鄉，但直到最後拐賣他的真凶也並沒有得到應有的懲罰，迴憶錄的尾聲也未暗示黑奴的生存狀態是否得以改善。

《為奴十二年》的故事背景被放在瞭南北戰爭前夕這樣一個宏觀的大背景之下，而這部作品也十分齣色地完成瞭為時代吹響號角的光榮使命。雖然那個時代離我們已經遠去，“為自由而竭力奔跑”的內涵和價值卻一直被人們所歌頌；迴憶那段曆史對於當下的意義不僅僅是以史為鑒，告誡世人“人人生而平等”，更是在為我們這些早已被各種物欲束縛的人提供一場精神救贖之旅。讓我們跟隨所羅門•諾薩普的視角，重新迴到美國的黑奴時期，揭露那個時代的奴隸生活。

本書情節“充滿瞭憤怒、無奈、委屈和感動……這是一麯長達12年的悲傷挽歌，一麯長達12年的愛戀之麯……它很真實，它就是曆史”。