New York Magazine ran a piece Monday about how the New York Times covered the real life story of Oscar Best Picture winner “12 Years a Slave” in 1853.
The film is based on an account from Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped and put into slavery for more than a decade.
NY Mag published the entire account, which is only available if you’re a NYT subscriber.
Quickly someone noticed there was something off about the 1853 piece.
Take a look at a clip from the piece tweeted from NYMag to see if you can find the mistake:
Here's how the New York Times covered 12 Years a Slave in 1853: http://t.co/9ITvaD6U9E pic.twitter.com/u5N1lfbSm6
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) March 4, 2014
The Times had two big spelling errors. Northup’s name was misspelled in both the title as Northrup and throughout the rest of the piece as Northrop.
The Times issued a correction 161 years later in today's edition after it was brought to the paper’s attention on Twitter.
Here's the correction from the Times:
Even NYMag made an oversight of the spelling, as Northup is currently referred to as Northrup on its site.
You can read the full piece on NYMag.
