NYT spots '12 Years a Slave' typo

The New York Times has published a correction to an article published 161 years ago on the case portrayed in the Oscar-winning film ‘12 Years a Slave’, media reports say.

The story published on 20 January 1853 chronicles the kidnapping and enslavement of a free black man named Solomon Northup. But the paper had misspelled the name at the time of publishing the story and has owned up to mistake 161 years later, reports the BBC.

12 Years a Slave won three Academy Awards on Sunday: Best Picture, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role by Lupita Nyong'o.

The New York Times on Tuesday corrected an article it printed 161 years ago detailing the story of Solomon Northup, a free African-American whose memoir Twelve Years a Slave was the basis of the film that won this year's Academy Award for best picture.

The film tells his tale as a free-born, black farmer and violinist who was kidnapped by slave traders. Northup was living in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1841 when he was lured to Washington, D.C., kidnapped and sold in Louisiana. Northup spent 12 years on Louisiana plantations before regaining his freedom in 1853.

The correction says the newspaper misspelled Northup's last name two different ways as Northrop and Northrup.

The error was discovered after a digital copy circulated in recent days.

Rebecca Skloot, author of the best-selling non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, brought the initial error to light, tweeting a link to the story on Monday.

The correction was published in Tuesday's New York Times.

The complete correction:

An article on Jan. 20, 1853, recounting the story of Solomon Northup, whose memoir "12 Years a Slave" became a movie 160 years later that won the best picture Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards on Sunday night, misspelled his surname as Northrop. And the headline misspelled it as Northrup. The errors came to light on Monday after a Twitter user pointed out the article in The Times archives. (The errors notwithstanding, The Times described the article as "a more complete and authentic record than has yet appeared.")