Family History and Education
Solomon's father Mintus was a freedman, who had been a slave in the early part of his life in service to the Northup family. Born in Rhode Island, he was taken with the Northups when they migrated to Hoosick, New York in Rensselaer County. The master Northup manumitted Mintus by his will; freed as a young man, Mintus took the surname Northup.
Mintus Northup married and moved north with his wife, a free woman of color, to the town of Minerva in Essex County, New York. The couple's two sons were born free there. His wife was of African, European and Native American ancestry; Solomon described her as a quadroon, meaning that she was one-quarter black. A farmer, Mintus Northup was successful enough to meet the state's property requirements for voters and could vote. He provided an education for his two sons, at a level considered high for free blacks at the time. He and his wife last lived near Fort Edward. He died in November 1829, and his grave is located in Hudson Falls Baker Cemetery. His wife died later, during the period of Solomon's captivity.
Read more about this topic: Solomon Northup
Famous quotes containing the words family, history and/or education:
“The agent’s steep and steady stare
Corroded to a grin.
Why, you black old, tough old hell of a man,
Move your family in!”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.
In Beverly Hills ... they don’t throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.
Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.”
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)
“The fetish of the great university, of expensive colleges for young women, is too often simply a fetish. It is not based on a genuine desire for learning. Education today need not be sought at any great distance. It is largely compounded of two things, of a certain snobbishness on the part of parents, and of escape from home on the part of youth. And to those who must earn quickly it is often sheer waste of time. Very few colleges prepare their students for any special work.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)