Edwin epps5/15/2023 ![]() While working on a project, Tibeats becomes so enraged that he attempts to whip Platt. Tibeats soon becomes Platt’s worst enemy, constantly threatening and berating him. However, a series of financial missteps result in Ford selling Platt to a cruel carpenter named John M. Solomon finds it almost a pleasure to be in Ford’s service and even figures out a way for Ford to save considerable time and money by transporting lumber via waterway instead of by land. Ford is a kindly master, devout in his Christian faith, and given to generosity toward his slaves. ![]() Solomon is now a full-fledged slave named “Platt,” working on the plantation and lumber mill of William Ford, deep in the heart of Louisiana. Next begins the third leg of Solomon Northup’s journey, told in Chapters VII–XI. After he finally recovers, he is sold, along with a slave girl named Eliza, to a man named William Ford. Solomon is put up for sale, but his sale is delayed when he contracts smallpox, which nearly kills him. Freeman changes Solomon’s name to “Platt,” thereby erasing any connection to his past. Solomon and the rest of “Burch’s gang” are transferred into the slave pen of Burch’s associate, Theophilus Freeman. Surrounded by slaves and a few other kidnap victims, he is transported downriver, eventually landing in New Orleans, Louisiana. At length, Solomon is allowed to join the other slaves being held by Burch, and he discovers just how hopeless his situation is. When Solomon protests his captivity and asserts his right to freedom, Burch responds by beating him into submission and threatening to kill him if he ever mentions his freedom again. Burch, a brutal slave trader in Washington, D.C. This second period of 12 Years a Slave, told in Chapters III–VI, relates how Solomon finds himself a prisoner in the slave pen of James H. ![]() When he woke up, Solomon Northup was alone, chained in darkness. On his way to see a doctor, he passed out. Unsuspecting, he joined them in their travels and in Washington, D.C., after a day of unusual revelry and drinking, became terribly ill. In 1841, Solomon met two white men who offered him lucrative work with a circus-if he would travel with them to Washington, D.C. Solomon worked in many trades, including farming, lumberjacking, and performing on the violin, while Anne earned money as a cook. At age 21, he married Anne Hampton, and they settled down to raise a family. Additionally, he learned to play the violin, a skill that would be both a blessing and curse to him in coming years. He grew up working on a farm at his father’s side, and also was educated to a degree of competence in reading and writing. Born in July 1808, he was the son of an emancipated slave. In Chapters I and II, Northup tells of his life as a free black man living in upstate New York. Were he not free and white.12 Years a Slave covers five primary periods in Solomon Northup’s life: It's all a lie, master, you may depend on't. I believe he's just made this story out of whole cloth, 'cause he wants to get a situation. He wants to make you believe we're all going to run away and then he thinks you'll hire an overseer to watch us. Didn't he want you to hire him for an overseer? That's it. Now, master, I can see what that Armsby is after, plain enough. You know this, just as you know that I am constant in truth. How could I write a letter without ink or paper? There is nobody I want to write to 'cause I hain't got no friends living as I know of. When I axed him why, he said you come over to him and waked him up in the middle of the night and wanted him to carry a letter to Marksville. That I had one that needed close watchin' or he would run away. Well, Armsby tol' me today the devil was among my niggers. I understand I've got a larned nigger that writes letters and tries to get white fellows to mail 'em. And there will be a day of reckoning yet. If they are allowed to climb no higher than brute animals, you and men like you will have to answer for it. Listen, Epps, these niggers are human beings. You might as well ask what the difference is between a white man and a baboon. I'm only asking, in the eyes of God, what is the difference? It is a fact, a plain and simple fact, that what is true and right is true and right for all. ![]() Suppose they pass a law taking away your liberty, making you a slave. Well, of course you did, and the law says you have the right to hold a nigger. What right have you to your niggers, when you come down to the point? But you do open up an interesting question. If this conversation concerns what is factual and what is not, then it must be said that there is no justice nor righteousness in their slavery. What amused me just then was your concern for my wellbeing in this heat when, quite frankly, the condition of your laborers. Well, you ask plainly, so I will tell you plainly. ![]() If something rubs you wrongly, I offer you the opportunity to speak on it. ![]()
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