Twelve Years a Slave was published in 1853 and lent factual support to Harriet Beecher Stowe's widely popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Solomon Northup writes how he was born a free man in New York and tricked into going to D.C., where he was sold into slavery. He then went on to spend the next 12 years of his life in the South, until he was able to get word to his family to secure his freedom. In 2013, a film adaptation of Northup's story was made, and it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. 20 of 51