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 115
Unable to bear Eliza’s constant crying, Solomon strikes her; she asks whether he still grieves his own children and calls him by his true name, piercing his attempt to suppress his pain.
- Scene 116
At dawn, Solomon waits for Chapin and asks for the keg of nails Tibeats ordered him to collect.
- Scene 117
Chapin gives Solomon the nails and rides away, leaving him to carry the heavy keg himself.
- Scene 118
This scene
