In the actual text of 12 Years a Slave. Solomon Northrup describes his wife Anna Hampton as:
a colored girl then living in the vicinity of our residence...She is not able to de exact line of her descent, but the blood of three races mingles in her veins. It is difficult to tell whether the red, white predominates. The union of them all, however, in her origin, has given her a singular but pleasing expression, such be seen. Though somewhat resembling, yet she cannot properly be styled a quadroon, a class to which, I have omit mention, my mother belonged.
Can't tell whether the
red or the
white predominate. as in she barely resembled the woman who was cast to play her
Is it so hard to actually get people who resemble the described persons in the text? It is likely that Anna Northrup would have resembled Soledad O'Brian:
or maybe Paula Patton:
Why does it matter? Because when discussing slavery in America these things matter, particularly given the often privileged positions those persons of mixed ancestry occupied (and occupy) in America. And there was no reason for it. Solomon said what his mother and wife looked like so cast the proper folks.
