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WRITER

Solomon Northup

1808 - 1863

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Solomon Northup (born July 10, c. 1807–1808; died c. 1864) was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir Twelve Years a Slave. A free-born African American from New York, he was the son of a freed slave and a free woman of color. A farmer and a professional violinist, Northup had been a landowner in Washington County, New York. In 1841, he was offered a traveling musician's job and went to Washington, D.C. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Solomon Northup has received more than 4,598,832 page views. His biography is available in 23 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 22 in 2019). Solomon Northup is the 746th most popular writer (up from 838th in 2019), the 873rd most popular biography from United States (up from 904th in 2019) and the 86th most popular American Writer.

Solomon Northup was a free black man living in New York in 1841. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana, where he remained for 12 years. He was freed in 1853 and published his memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, in 1853. The book became a bestseller and was adapted into a movie in 2013.

Memorability Metrics

  • 4.6M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 63.14

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 23

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.43

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.55

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Page views of Solomon Northups by language


Among WRITERS

Among writers, Solomon Northup ranks 746 out of 5,755. Before him are Ann Radcliffe, Aelia Eudocia, Joseph Murphy, Su Shi, Zosimus, and Olga Tokarczuk. After him are Karl Harrer, Sidonius Apollinaris, Adunis, Sinclair Lewis, Agathias, and Edmond de Goncourt.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1808, Solomon Northup ranks 16. Before him are Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria, Thomas Cook, Gérard de Nerval, Maria Malibran, Johann Gustav Droysen, and David Strauss. After him are Carl Spitzweg, Princess Louise of Prussia, Mohammad Shah Qajar, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and Wilhelm Weitling. Among people deceased in 1863, Solomon Northup ranks 6. Before him are Eugène Delacroix, Jacob Grimm, Frederick VII of Denmark, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Alfred de Vigny. After him are Horace Vernet, Sa'id of Egypt, Jakob Steiner, Franz Xaver Gruber, Stonewall Jackson, and Christian Friedrich Hebbel.

Others Born in 1808

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Others Deceased in 1863

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Solomon Northup ranks 873 out of 18,182. Before him are Karl Malden (1912), Irwin Rose (1926), Norman Rockwell (1894), William Kemmler (1860), Robert Lucas Jr. (1937), and Mel Brooks (1926). After him are Jack Palance (1919), Lex Barker (1919), Mae West (1893), Glenn T. Seaborg (1912), Jean Harlow (1911), and Thelonious Monk (1917).

Others born in United States

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Solomon Northup ranks 86. Before him are John Dos Passos (1896), Joseph Campbell (1904), Louise Hay (1926), L. Ron Hubbard (1911), Raymond Carver (1938), and Mary Higgins Clark (1927). After him are Sinclair Lewis (1885), Dalton Trumbo (1905), Stephen Covey (1932), Sherwood Anderson (1876), John Jacob Astor IV (1864), and John Fante (1909).

American born Writers

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