12 Years a Slave · written by John Ridley and Steve McQueen · 2013

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 99 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Solomon
White Customer
Sam
Ford

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 59 min into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 99

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 96
The workers make the long walk from the woods back to the mill.
Scene 97
At the mill, Taydem berates the workers for moving too slowly, and Ford rebukes his tone.
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
This scene

99EXT. FORD'S MILL - DAY

The slaves have broken for lunch. They snack on smoked meat and drink water from gourds. As they lunch Solomon reads from Sam's Bible to the other slaves.

SOLOMON

But ye shall not be so: but he

that is greatest among you, let

him be as the younger; and he that

is chief, as he that doth serve.

For whether is greater, he that

sitteth at meat, or he that

serveth? Is not he that sitteth

at meat? But I am among you as he

that serveth.

A WHITE CUSTOMER, irate at the sight and sound of slaves reading Scripture, crosses over. He grabs the Bible.

WHITE CUSTOMER

From where did you steal this?

SAM

Suh, the book is my property.

The White Customer has no interest in Sam's answer. With flailing hands he STARTS BEATING ON SAM. Solomon tries to stop him. That only makes the situation worse, Solomon now the target of the man's ire.

WHITE CUSTOMER

Take your filthy hands from me!

Ford comes running over.

FORD

What is the commotion?

WHITE CUSTOMER

Your niggers are either brazen or

rebellious. This one was readin'

aloud. Scripture, no less. This

one claims it to be his.

FORD

It is. A gift from his Mistress.

WHITE CUSTOMER

You condone this?

FORD

I encourage it. As a Christian I

can do no less.

WHITE CUSTOMER

Any man who would allow his slaves

to have a Bible is not fit to own

a nigger. And any man who would

allow a slave to read is