SOLOMON NORTHUP was kidnapped into slavery in Washington, D.C. in 1841. Shortly after his escape, he published his memoirs to great acclaim and brought legal action against his abductors, though they were never persecuted. The details of his life thereafter are unknown, but he is believed to have died in Glen Falls, NY, around 1863. IRA BERLIN (introducer) is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Maryland. His many books include THE MAKING OF AFRICAN AMERICA (Viking Penguin) and MANY THOUSANDS GONE: THE FIRST TWO CENTURIES OF SLAVERY IN NORTH AMERICA, winner of the Bancroft Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. (general editor) is Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W. E. B Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. A MacArthur Fellow, he is also editor-in-chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center, host of Faces of America (PBS), and editor-in-chief of TheRoot.com.