NY Times prints Northup correction after 161 years

Screenshot from nytimes website showing the article dated Jan. 20, 1853, recounting the story of Solomon Northup, whose memoir “12 Years a Slave” became a movie 160 years later.

The New York Times has printed a correction for misspelling 161 years ago the name of a free black man who was sold into slavery and whose memoirs were turned into the Oscar-winning movie 12 Years a Slave .

In a Jan. 20, 1853, article, the Times misspelled Solomon Northup’s surname as Northrop and as Northrup.

TheTimes corrected Northup’s name on Tuesday, after the errors were pointed out by someone looking at its archives.

Northup was born in New York and was kidnapped and sold as a slave in 1841. He spent the next dozen years in Louisiana before regaining his freedom.

12 Years a Slave won the Oscar for best picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday. It starred Chiwetel Ejiofor as Northup.