Solomon Northup and Gustavus Vassa
Gustavus Vassa A brief background of Gustavus depicts him as a young man kidnapped from southern Nigeria who makes his way through a perilous voyage to the Island of Barbados in the West Indies and later to the British colony of Virginia in the United States.
It is there he meets Michael Pascal a navy captain who will take him under his wings and have him travel with him if he is not working on their sugarcane plantation.
Gustavus Vassa is sent to England to get educated by the suggestion of his masters wife which is quite admirable.
Solomon Northup According to his biography he is an educated violinist from Saratoga in America who is approached by two men who have a business proposal for him to perform in Washington.
He will leave his family not knowing that he will return 12 years later.
Solomon is sold into slavery in Louisiana whilst very much a free man.
He is forced to change his name,were tattered clothes,get spitted,beaten and almost hanged.
In his biography we get a grim look of the sadistic nature of his new master Edwin Epps who mistreats him and other slaves.
After he is set free under the most fortuitous circumstances He like Gustavus Vassa who is his predecessor also joins the abolitionist movement and takes part in the underground rail route where slaves from the south are transported to the north.
Common Parallels Solomon Northup was tricked and sold as a slave in Louisiana.
Gustavus Vassa after gaining freedom from his master Robert King was nearly kidnapped back into slavery.
Gustavus Vassa rarely spent time working in the plantations and was mostly at sea and helped in the war between France and England.
Both were abolitionist.
Gustavus Vassa being the pioneer died in England whilst the death of Solomon Northup until today still remains a mystery and is a bone of contention among historians who believe he was murdered by the blokes who sold him into slavery or went missing under disguise by getting a new name.
It is worthy to note that Solomon Northup was born 9 years after the death of Gustavus Vassa who lived most of his life during the slave trade period and not post slave trade era.
To conclude both biographies depict the struggles and the extent of slavery at that time with Gustavus vassa's depiction more subtle.
It is there he meets Michael Pascal a navy captain who will take him under his wings and have him travel with him if he is not working on their sugarcane plantation.
Gustavus Vassa is sent to England to get educated by the suggestion of his masters wife which is quite admirable.
Solomon Northup According to his biography he is an educated violinist from Saratoga in America who is approached by two men who have a business proposal for him to perform in Washington.
He will leave his family not knowing that he will return 12 years later.
Solomon is sold into slavery in Louisiana whilst very much a free man.
He is forced to change his name,were tattered clothes,get spitted,beaten and almost hanged.
In his biography we get a grim look of the sadistic nature of his new master Edwin Epps who mistreats him and other slaves.
After he is set free under the most fortuitous circumstances He like Gustavus Vassa who is his predecessor also joins the abolitionist movement and takes part in the underground rail route where slaves from the south are transported to the north.
Common Parallels Solomon Northup was tricked and sold as a slave in Louisiana.
Gustavus Vassa after gaining freedom from his master Robert King was nearly kidnapped back into slavery.
Gustavus Vassa rarely spent time working in the plantations and was mostly at sea and helped in the war between France and England.
Both were abolitionist.
Gustavus Vassa being the pioneer died in England whilst the death of Solomon Northup until today still remains a mystery and is a bone of contention among historians who believe he was murdered by the blokes who sold him into slavery or went missing under disguise by getting a new name.
It is worthy to note that Solomon Northup was born 9 years after the death of Gustavus Vassa who lived most of his life during the slave trade period and not post slave trade era.
To conclude both biographies depict the struggles and the extent of slavery at that time with Gustavus vassa's depiction more subtle.
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