Solomon Northup: An Educated And Free Black Man

Alain Locke wrote “Enter the New Negro,” and Marcus Garvey’s speech on Negroes in the early twentieth century interconnects on “new” Americans and new cultural Politics. Psychological and social traits were examined deeply about “new negroes,” and how their emergence in society was different from when their ancestors manifested.

A free black man, Solomon Northup lives in Saratoga, New York and plays the violin to support his wife and two children. At the age of 33, he accepted the opportunity to play the violin in Washington with two man. Little did he know, the two man put drug in his wine and sold him into slavery. He was no longer called Solomon Northup but Platt in the world of slavery. Initially he tried to come up with plans to escape and fight back, but in the end he gave in and cooperate as he needs to survive. To survive, he must not let anyone know he can read or write as slaves are not supposed to be educated.

Solomon Northup was an African American, born a free man, who lived in Saratoga Springs, New York with his wife Anne Hampton and their three children. Northup was a skilled violinist and farmer who was seeking employment in the spring of 1841; one night he met two men at a saloon, who both identified themselves to be affiliated with a circus, and they convinced him to accompany them on a journey to New York to perform with his superb violin skills on their traveling music show. They persuaded him by offering a very generous wage of “one dollar for each day’s services, and three dollars in addition for every night [he] played at their performances” (2). Originally he was only going to New York but he was persuaded to travel further to Washington D.C. – a state where slavery was legal. On route to Washington D.C. he was drugged by the two men (identified as Breach and Hamilton) who subsequently sold him into slavery at an auction in New Orleans. This was common for many “free” African Americans; predominantly males for their ability to be harder working in the fields. Often times the “Negros” would be kidnapped or lured away from their home with offers too good to be true and upon their capture they would be drugged, beaten and bonded to be sold into slavery; much like Solomon Northup. A great majority of the time their case would be hopeless if they tried to prove they were “free men” and they would be beaten for even mentioning the word “free”.

Solomon Northup was a free negro, who was born and raised in New York in 1808. His father was a slave to a man with the last name Northup and upon his death was granted his freedom. Solomon married Ann Hampton and had three children. Solomon had many talents, and was quite intelligent, which helped to make his family prosperous. Ann worked as a cook at local restaurants and Solomon played the violin for extra money during the winter months. While unemployed in March of 1841, Solomon encountered two men at a bar that wanted to hire him to play the violin for them as they traveled to meet their circus companions in Washington, D.C. The gentlemen made Solomon a very tempting offer and he decided to travel with the gentlemen while

The last African American leader was named Marcus Garvey. Not like the other two leaders, he was born in Jamaica in August 17th, 1887. In the year of 1912, he went to London for college. After two years, in 1914 he came back to Jamaica and organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, which was also known as the UNIA. The main goal of this organization was to have an independent society that the African Americans could have their own government and rule their own. There were three main parts of this organization, they were social, political, and economic freedom. In Marcus’s idea, the white people will never truly accept and treat Africans Americans equally. Marcus thought in order to have a better life

Also, Northup pointed out that black people were the same as white people: they all shared same intelligent, and same emotions. Northup was a black man in the North, where slavery is illegal. However, the idea of the black people was second-class citizen was normal at that period of time. His right as a freeman was violated a lot, both in North as a free citizen and in south as a slave. He once said in the book, “that the southern slave, fed, clothed, whipped and protected by his master, is happier than the free colored citizen of the North” (121). As long as the master protected his slaves, like Mr. Ford did, slaves felt happy. In other words, Northup felt that he would give up his freedom to be loved and cared about. Black people in the country

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington is an autobiography in which the highly influential Washington reveals his thoughts as he emerged from an ex-slave in Virginia to becoming a educator and founder of one of the most important schools for African Americans in the South. Washington takes his narrative through the post-Reconstruction period, one of the most dynamic and politically driven times in American history. Throughout the autobiography, Washington shows the connection between education, race and the importance of achieving equality for African Americans through education.

The book, Up From Slavery, written by Booker Taliaferro Washington, profoundly touched me when I read it. Washington overcame many obstacles throughout his life. He became perhaps the most prominent black leader of his time. Booker T. Washington belived that African Americans could gain equality by improving their economic situation through education rather than by demanding equal rights.

The Charles King Interview seemed to be both an eye-opening interview as well as an upsetting one for the crowd that was present in the video. I believe that it was the first time for most of the people in the crowd to hear a black man talking about the concept of institutionalized racism in the manner that he did. Charles King brought up many controversial topics. The concept of white institutions and society creating, maintaining, and condoning the “ghetto” neighborhoods really intrigued many as well as upset others. The idea that white society created the conditions for the ghetto to come about seemed rather taboo to most people. Much of the crowd in the video stated that the reason they were angry with black individuals was because they

I will forever owe a great debt of gratitude to my 5th grade science and math teacher, Mrs. Donna Lindley, for introducing me to the STEM world. Mrs. Lindley is a truly exceptional teacher who somehow managed to stimulated a desire for learning in the mind of a 10 year old boy who's primary goal in life was to pre-order the upcoming version of "Pokemon" to play on his Gameboy. Mrs. Lindley organized and supervised the St. Thomas Episcopal Grammar School's robotics team and made sure my older brother and I were involved with this extracurricular program. I began to build robots with Mrs. Lindley in the "Junior FIRST Lego League" (Jr. FLL) where small, computer programmable, robots were re-designed each year to accomplish new and different tasks.

America. We all love our nation and we stand proudly behind it. As a nation we stand up for what we believe in and never back down. Overtime inequality has always been a big issue in America; however we have gone through a series of adjustments to better this problem. We, as Americans, believe in equality due to our nation being built upon the very principle. Although, still an issue in America today; inequality has gotten a hell of a lot better compared to the past.

There were many influential people who fought for the abolition of slavery in the 1800s. Among these people are Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, and our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln. Frederick Douglass is one of these people. As a former slave, Frederick Douglass believed he could not enjoy his freedom while the rest of his people suffered under the burden of slavery. Therefore, he spent much of his adult life working to abolish slavery. Frederick Douglass was a notable figure in the abolitionist movements in the 1800s and is still honored today.

When the narrator of Johnson’s novel falls in love, it is to music he turns to express that emotion to his intended one (149). She in turn answered in kind, letting the notes and tempo combine with her words in expression of her love returned to him. The relevance of music in Johnson’s novel should not be undercut by the other issues within the confines of his text. Exploring the meaning of this inclusion will be to explore the theme of music itself. It will encompass the examination of the style of music, the generation in which the story takes place along with the issues of race. Johnson’s use of music to develop a story line and illuminate the various issues and themes of his novel is a demonstration of his love of the art form along

Born into slavery, but he came out a scholar. Booker T. Washington, a leader in the black community as the United States progressed towards equality for all after the Civil War. He may have started as a slave who had nothing but the clothes on his back, but through his desires and ambitions, he was able to achieve great success. He strove to improve the relationships between the Whites and African Americans for the future. Washington advocated patience and hard work towards a common goal of equality, only then will everyone get what they want.

The peaceful and gentle music that comes from the Violin is captivating and remarkable. The violin is complex yet amazing, a person who becomes a violinist acquires many skill sets throughout his lifetime. The greatest skill that can be learned through the playing of the violin is perseverance. The perseverance skill is learned by practicing on the violin for long hours at a time in order to improve. In the novel Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup was a violinist, living in Hebron New York, he was born a free man, but was wrongfully captured into slavery. Northrup was tricked by two white men pretending to be interested in his music, he was convinced to go to Washington D.C, there he was drugged and sold into slavery. Northup was enslaved