--- description: The paper issues a '12 Years A Slave' correction...161 years later title: The New York Times Shows It’s Never Too Late To Issue A Correction image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f7a09c94cf2a908/698683df35ba6f69cbc00c5f/1280x720correction.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [National](/tag/national/) ## National Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The New York Times Shows It's Never Too Late To Issue A Correction  by [Francesca Trianni](/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 4, 2014 7:30 PM CUT   by [Francesca Trianni](/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 4, 2014 7:30 PM CUT In 1853, the New York _Times_ [ran a profile](http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E03EEDC1438E334BC4851DFB7668388649FDE&smid=nytimesarts "undefined") on Northup, a free man kidnapped in the 1840s, sold into slavery, and then rescued 12 years later. That story was eventually made into the [Oscar winning film](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/03/03/oscars-2014-best-picture-12-years-a-slave/ "undefined") _12 Years A Slave_. But some particularly observant readers noticed that the 1853 article spelled Northup’s name wrong, on two different occasions. > [](https://twitter.com/RebeccaSkloot/status/440386399762518016) The article [was corrected](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/pageoneplus/corrections-march-4-2014.html "undefined"), 161 years later. Watch video above for more. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12422/the-new-york-times-shows-its-never-too-late-to-issue-a-correction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12422/the-new-york-times-shows-its-never-too-late-to-issue-a-correction/"},"headline":"The New York Times Shows It's Never Too Late To Issue A Correction","datePublished":"2014-03-04T19:30:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:34:26.166Z","description":"The paper issues a '12 Years A Slave' correction...161 years later","url":"https://time.com/12422/the-new-york-times-shows-its-never-too-late-to-issue-a-correction/","keywords":["National","History","New York Times"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f7a09c94cf2a908/698683df35ba6f69cbc00c5f/1280x720correction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f7a09c94cf2a908/698683df35ba6f69cbc00c5f/1280x720correction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1280x720correction","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national/","name":"National"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/12422/the-new-york-times-shows-its-never-too-late-to-issue-a-correction/","name":"The New York Times Shows It's Never Too Late To Issue A Correction"}}]}] ```