Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book)

E780763

memoir slave narrative

Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup recounting his kidnapping as a free Black man and subsequent twelve years of enslavement in the American South.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
12 Years a Slave (memoir)	2
Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book) canonical	1
Twelve Years a Slave (1853 memoir)	1
Twelve Years a Slave (book)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9113672 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book)
Context triple: [Edwin Epps, workBasedOn, Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book)]

A. The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a hip-hop production collective known for crafting gritty, sample-heavy beats for early 1990s West Coast rap artists.
B. The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad is a historical drama television series, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, that reimagines the network that helped enslaved people escape as a literal subterranean train system.
C. Book of Negroes
The Book of Negroes is a historical ledger compiled by the British in 1783 that records the names and details of thousands of Black Loyalists who were evacuated from the United States to British territories after the American Revolutionary War.
D. The Slave
The Slave is a novel by Nobel Prize–winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer that explores themes of faith, love, and spiritual resilience in 17th-century Poland through the story of a Jewish man enslaved after a massacre.
E. The Slave
"The Slave" is a provocative 1964 one-act play by Amiri Baraka that explores Black nationalism, racial conflict, and revolutionary violence in the United States.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book)
Target entity description: Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup recounting his kidnapping as a free Black man and subsequent twelve years of enslavement in the American South.

A. The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a hip-hop production collective known for crafting gritty, sample-heavy beats for early 1990s West Coast rap artists.
B. The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad is a historical drama television series, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, that reimagines the network that helped enslaved people escape as a literal subterranean train system.
C. Book of Negroes
The Book of Negroes is a historical ledger compiled by the British in 1783 that records the names and details of thousands of Black Loyalists who were evacuated from the United States to British territories after the American Revolutionary War.
D. The Slave
The Slave is a novel by Nobel Prize–winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer that explores themes of faith, love, and spiritual resilience in 17th-century Poland through the story of a Jewish man enslaved after a massacre.
E. The Slave
"The Slave" is a provocative 1964 one-act play by Amiri Baraka that explores Black nationalism, racial conflict, and revolutionary violence in the United States.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	memoir ⓘ slave narrative ⓘ
adaptedAs	Twelve Years a Slave (2013 film) NERFINISHED ⓘ
author	Solomon Northup NERFINISHED ⓘ
basedOn	Solomon Northup's real-life experiences ⓘ
centralEvent	kidnapping into slavery ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
depicts	legal status of free Black people in the 19th-century United States ⓘ physical punishment of enslaved people ⓘ plantation life in Louisiana ⓘ slave markets ⓘ
fullTitle	Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853 NERFINISHED ⓘ
genre	autobiography ⓘ memoir ⓘ slave narrative ⓘ
historicalContext	pre–Civil War United States ⓘ
historicalSignificance	firsthand account of kidnapping of a free Black man into slavery ⓘ important primary source on U.S. slavery ⓘ
influenced	scholarship on American slavery ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
literaryMovement	abolitionist literature ⓘ
mainCharacter	Solomon Northup NERFINISHED ⓘ
narrativePerspective	first-person ⓘ
narrativeStructure	chronological ⓘ
notableCharacter	Bass NERFINISHED ⓘ Edwin Epps NERFINISHED ⓘ Patsey NERFINISHED ⓘ William Ford NERFINISHED ⓘ
originalPublisher	Derby & Miller NERFINISHED ⓘ
placeOfPublication	Auburn, New York NERFINISHED ⓘ Buffalo, New York NERFINISHED ⓘ
protagonistStatusAtStart	free Black man ⓘ
publicationDate	1853 ⓘ
settingPeriod	1841–1853 ⓘ
settingRegion	Louisiana NERFINISHED ⓘ New York NERFINISHED ⓘ Washington, D.C. NERFINISHED ⓘ
subject	American South NERFINISHED ⓘ kidnapping ⓘ slavery in the United States ⓘ
theme	family separation ⓘ injustice of slavery ⓘ loss of freedom ⓘ racial oppression ⓘ survival ⓘ
timeInCaptivity	12 years ⓘ
timeToWriteAfterFreedom	approximately 1 year ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Edwin Epps → workBasedOn → Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book) ⓘ

William Ford → appearsIn → Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book) ⓘ

this entity surface form: Twelve Years a Slave (book)

William Ford → firstAppearance → Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book) ⓘ

this entity surface form: Twelve Years a Slave (1853 memoir)

Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps → basedOnWork → Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book) ⓘ

this entity surface form: 12 Years a Slave (memoir)

Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey → basedOnWork → Twelve Years a Slave (1853 book) ⓘ