Elizabeth's US History Blog

Learning History From A Film Much of what we learn is from the past, the history of our actions. We study the past to see how we can improve and better ourselves and the community overall. The way we learn is a different story. I believe that it doesn't matter how you learn your information, whether its from books or movies or news articles, as long as the information is truthful and accurate then I think its okay. The movie "12 Years A Slave" is a great example of learning from different types of sources. In the small section of Solomon Northups narrative that I read, chapter 1, I learned more about his past life in Saratoga, New York with his family than his life as a slave. In this chapter, he discussed the history of his name, more specifically his last name. He said “ As far back as I have been able to ascertain, my ancestors on the paternal side were slaves in Rhode Island. They belonged to a family by the name of Northup, one of whom, removing to the State of ...

Slave Narratives Solomon Northup's Narrative: 12 Years a Slave In the small section of this narrative that I read, chapter 1, I learned more about Solomons past life in Saratoga, New York with his family than his life as a slave. In this chapter, he discussed the history of his name, more specifically his last name. His last name was the same as his fathers, Mintus Northup, who got his last name from his previous slave owner. When Mintus' owner died he took his last name and was finally free. He then moved to Essex county in New York where Solomon was born during the July of 1808. Mintus Northup was born into slavery unlike his son Solomon who was born a free man and stayed that way for over 30 years. He then got married to Anne Hampton and had three kids, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. He was then kidnapped and became a slave, working for 12 years, and was then rescued during the January of 1853. Some questions that this narrative has raised for me are, what the...