She suspects that multitasking while in class is to blame so she bans computers and cellphones from her class. later in the semester, when she compares the first midterm with the second midterm scores she finds a significant improvement. however, she finds that five of the multitasking students with the lowest scores on the first midterm had dropped out of the class.

the answer is solomon northrup. he was a free-born african american, abolitionist and professional violinist that was drugged, kidnapped and sold as slave in 1841 and remained in captivity until 1853 where he regained his freedom with the of the then-governor of new york, washington hunt. he wrote and published his memoirs "twelve years a slave" in 1853, and in this text, he tells the story of his escape thru one of louisiana's swamps (the great pacoudrie swamp) in which he ended up covered in green slime from crossing the surface of the dead water.