‘12 Years a Slave’ starts with a ship’s manifest, where a family sees name of an ancestor

The slave manifest for the brig Orleans, bound from Richmond that Tuesday in 1841, included one Plat Hamilton — male, age 26, height 5 feet 7 inches, color “yellow.”

He was one of 41 men, women and children being shipped, along with a cargo of tobacco, to the slave markets of New Orleans.

The manifest declared the shipment legal, and the description of the cargo, upon examination, to be “correct.”

 But the document, which went on display last week at the National Archives in downtown Washington, carried more than details of tobacco and slaves.

Thursday afternoon, Vera J. Williams, approached it carefully, her eyes filling with tears. She knew Plat Hamilton was really her great-great-great-grandfather, Solomon Northup, author of the book “12 Years a Slave.”