Problem
Solomon Northup's memoir, like many stories of enslaved people, is deeply rooted in the geography of is_its setting: far removed from states where they could have any hope of being free, surrounded by lands and laws that made it easy for any white person to capture, punish, and re-enslave them, people knew that escape likely meant death by one means or another.
Product
Just as timelines help us process the relationships among events, maps help us visualize relationships among locations, topography, and events. A few books come with maps, but most simply describe locations. This custom Google map allows us to drop in and explore the terrain traversed by Northup from his home in New York, through the second Middle Passage, to enslavement in the Deep South, and back again. Images help give a sense of place and time, while street view and satellite view can give a sense of the terrain as well as how places have changed since the mid 19th century.
All images used are either public domain or under a Creative Commons License. Images are cited below the map entry where they appear. If I could not find images of the exact location being illustrated, I took care to select images that were as faithful to the time and location as I could acquire. I hope you'll explore the map and read Northup's "Twelve Years a Slave " if you haven't already.