Toplin said, 'While we hoped the Vesey show would throw light on questions about slave insurrections, we designed the Northup film to address questions about life in bondage.' Toplin said the film in particular corrected the tendency of Roots and similar media 'to portray almost all slaveholders as insensitive exploiters'. The film was aired on PBS in 1982, and Solomon Northup's Odyssey was the next to be produced. The first film in the series was Denmark Vesey's Rebellion, about Denmark Vesey, who planned a slave rebellion. When the miniseries Roots was aired in 1977, the team was forced to argue to some television executives that there was more to say about American slavery.

Toplin who suggested the topic of American slavery. Producer Shep Morgan received a planning grant from the NEH in 1976 and sought input from historians including Robert B. The National Endowment for the Humanities provided funding for a series of programs related to American history. The film was produced by The Fremantle Corporation and Past America Inc. Lou Potter and Samm-Art Williams wrote the teleplay for the film. The television film is based on the autobiography Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Solomon Northup's Odyssey is directed by Gordon Parks, who also composed the film score with Kermit Moore. He was enslaved in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before he was released. Northup was intelligent, skilled in carpentry, and was able to play music. Solomon Northup's Odyssey is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man in Saratoga, New York who was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery (see slavery in the United States). A second film adaptation, 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, was released in 2013. Solomon Northup's Odyssey was the first film adaptation of Twelve Years a Slave. It was released on video under the title Half Slave, Half Free. The film first aired on PBS on Decemand as part of PBS's American Playhouse anthology television series in the following year. He chose to work in the Deep South and to collaborate with a crew of mixed races. Parks returned to direct the film after years of absence. It was the second film to be funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, following Denmark Vesey's Rebellion in 1982. The film, which aired on PBS, was directed by Gordon Parks with Avery Brooks starring as the titular character. Solomon Northup's Odyssey, reissued as Half Slave, Half Free, is a 1984 American television film based on the autobiography Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a free black man who in 1841 was kidnapped and sold into slavery.

Solomon northup's odyssey