Twelve Years a Slave

Bass returns to the plantation and tells Northup that he has not received a response to the letter. He promises that he will personally get in touch with Northup’s relations in New York and urges Northup not to lose hope of obtaining his rightful freedom.

After receiving a brutal whipping for oversleeping, Northup begins a typical day of exhausting, pained labor. The normalcy of his day is broken, however, by the sight of two strange men crossing the field toward him.

Chapter 21 explains what transpired in New York while Northup awaited a response. Northup’s letters were forwarded to his wife, who shared them with the lawyer Henry B. Northup (former owner of Mintus, Solomon’s father). Henry B. Northup spent several months putting together a case to prove his client’s status as a free man, contacting several government officials before journeying to retrieve Solomon Northup from Louisiana. In Louisiana, Henry B. Northup had a chance meeting with Bass, who explained Solomon Northup’s situation.

With the help of a local sheriff, Henry B. Northup travels to Epps’s plantation and demands that his client be restored to freedom. Epps furiously protests, but to no avail. 

Solomon Northup and Henry B. Northup stop in New Orleans to obtain a legal certificate of his status as a free man. They then stop in DC to press criminal charges against Burch, the slave pen owner who illegally enslaved Solomon Northup.

Burch’s trial displays the judicial system’s extreme bias in a White man’s favor. Burch is allowed to testify on his own behalf, whereas Northup is not because he is Black. In his testimony, Burch makes the absurd claim that Northup volunteered himself into slavery. Unable to contest this claim, Northup helplessly looks on as his captor is freed from all charges.

Northup then meets a warm homecoming welcome from his grateful, emotional family. This family includes his baby grandson—Solomon Northup Staunton—whom his daughter has named in her father’s honor.