After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.
- Scenes 1–29
Solomon lives freely in Saratoga as a husband, father, worker, and musician.
- Scenes 30–65
Kidnapped and held under the imposed name Platt, Solomon must preserve his life and identity.
- Scene 86
Ford takes Solomon, Harry, and Eliza from Freeman; Eliza is dragged away from Emily, committing Solomon to plantation life and its family separations.
- Scene 87
Ford brings Solomon and the other captives into plantation life; Solomon must survive within a system that denies his identity.
- Just before
- Scene 98
Solomon grinds corn and plays with Sally’s children; Eliza imagines Randall safe, then breaks down as Sally bluntly tells her to accept the loss.
- Scene 99
Solomon reads Sam’s Bible at lunch; a white customer attacks Sam for reading, but Ford defends the Bible as his gift and affirms the slaves’ right to Scripture.
- Scene 100
Tibeats takes Eliza away in a cart; Mistress Ford tells the remaining workers that the separation is for the best because Eliza’s grief disrupts her work.
- Scene 101
This scene
