A free-born African American, Solomon Northup was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1808. He lived free until 1841 when, attracted by a job offer, he traveled to Washington, DC, where he was drugged and sold into slavery by his supposed employers. Northup was enslaved for twelve years before he regained his freedom and returned to New York. There, he became an advocate for abolitionism and in the 1860s began helping fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Northup published his own experiences in the memoir Twelve Years a Slave, which was adapted into the 1984 TV movie Solomon Northup's Odyssey and the film 12 Years a Slave, adapted and produced by Steve McQueen. Northup is believed to have died between 1863 and 1875, but both the date and circumstances of his death are unknown.