Samuel Bass

Samuel Bass (August 1807 – August 30, 1853) was a Canadian construction worker and abolitionist who helped Solomon Northup, author of Twelve Years a Slave, attain his freedom. Northup was a free black man from New York who was kidnapped and forced into slavery in the Deep South. At risk of injury and conviction in default of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Bass mailed letters to friends of Northup that initiated a series of events to save him.

Louisiana Bass left Canada around 1840 for the United States, where he had relatives. Bass and Solomon Northup, who was enslaved by Epps, worked together on the construction of a Creole cottage. He said that there is "no justice or righteousness in it". Feeling comfortable with Bass, Northup shared his story and asked Bass to mail letters to his friends in New York. Bass agreed to help him, at great risk after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

There was no response to the three letters for months.

Final months Bass lived in Marksville, where he had a relationship with a free woman of color, Augustine Tournier. Commonly called Justine, she had a daughter with Bass called both Ellen and Helena. Bass prepared a will with Waddill the night before he died of pneumonia on August 30, 1853