Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar winner for best supporting actress, attended last year’s Solomon Northup Day at Skidmore College. (Courtesy of Skidmore)
Director Steven McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave,” which follows the adult life of African-American Solomon Northup, captured “Best Picture” at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday. Northup worked in Saratoga Springs’ large 19th century hotels and lived downtown with his wife, Anne, and three children. In March 1841, two white men lured him off Broadway, drugged him and sold him as a slave.
Northup, then 33, labored for 12 years on Louisiana plantations before regaining his freedom with the help of Cephas Parker, a Saratoga Springs shopkeeper, and others. Northup returned to New York and authored a first-hand account of his years in bondage. The autobiography – “Twelve Years a Slave” – became perhaps the most detailed and realistic portrayal written on the institution of slavery.
Some in Saratoga Springs, however, feel Northup’s adopted hometown never fully embraced his story as part of its history, even after the creation of an annual “Solomon Northup Day” celebration. Sunday’s Oscar win could change that, Northup’s researchers said Monday.
“I feel like I’m finally on the team that won,” said Johnnie Roberts, a city resident who for years publicized Northup’s story in the city’s visitors center. “I feel vindicated.”
Union College professor Clifford Brown and curator Rachel Seligman reminded local audiences of Northup’s odyssey in a 1999 exhibit, and Renee Moore, a resident of Saratoga Springs’ west side, founded “Solomon Northup Day” in the city that year.
“There was a lot of resistance in the early days,” Moore said Monday. “Precious few stood by me. I had no Ph.D at the end of my name, and black history isn’t something that has really been embraced.”
In recent years, Northup’s descendants have traveled to the yearly event, which was held the third Saturday of July at the Saratoga Springs Visitors Center. Activities included talks by experts and historians on topics related to Northup’s life, music, readings and more.
Skidmore College hosted the event for the first time last year. It attracted about 250 people, including actress Lupita Nyong’o, winner of Sunday’s Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as Patsey in the film. On Monday, Skidmore College announced it will take over organizing and hosting Solomon Northup Day in the city.
“We think that over time, the event can attract not only more attention from the public, but also from history scholars worldwide,” Skidmore’s Dean of Special Programs Paul Calhoun said.
Roberts said she was happy to hand part of the program to Skidmore. She said she had been “slapped in the face for six years over this issue.”
“I insisted on promoting this story, giving information and talking to people even though it was not deemed important enough for taxpayer dollars,” Roberts said. She declined to elaborate. She said many Saratogians aren’t aware that one of their own – Cephas Parker – played a significant role in freeing Northup in 1853. Northup told Parker of his plight in a letter, and the Washington Street storekeeper forwarded the information to authorities, which led to Northup’s rescue.
Sunday’s Oscar for best picture marked a rare if unprecedented moment in which a son or daughter of the Capital Region became the subject of a film that went on to win the movie industry’s most coveted award, said author David Fiske of Ballston Spa, who recently published a book on Northup’s life with Brown and Seligman.
Fiske studied Northup’s life for 15 years. He said he talked to people on the streets of Saratoga Springs and found many didn’t know about Northup’s story. He thinks the opening of the Saratoga Race Course a decade after Northup’s rescue stole a lot of the community’s historical focus. He noted that Northup’s autobiography recently made the New York Times best seller list.
“With the movie, I assume we’ll see an increased awareness of this chapter in American history,” Fiske said.