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.
- Scenes 66–123
He enters plantation life under Ford, passes through Tibeats’s violence and the near-lynching, and is transferred to Epps.
- Scene 124
Solomon is transferred to Epps’s plantation and placed among Patsey and the enslaved workers, opening the harsher final plantation phase.
- Just before
- Scene 135
Mistress Epps sends Solomon to buy household goods, notices him reading the list, and warns him that learning to read will bring a hundred lashes.
- Scene 136
At Bartholomew’s store, Solomon collects the household order, including foolscap, without paying the paper particular attention.
- Scene 137
Solomon returns the purchased goods to Mistress Epps and reports that the errand went smoothly.
- Scene 138
This scene
