Twelve Years a Slave

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 5

Reading Check

1. How did Northup’s father, Mintus, gain his freedom?

2. What does Anne Hampton, Northup’s wife, do professionally?

3. Why do Anne and the children leave from Saratoga Springs in March of 1841 to a destination 20 miles distant?

4. What city do Northup’s captors take him to after they leave Washington, DC, by steamboat?

5. When Northup is taken to New Orleans on a brig, how many other captives are aboard with him?

6. Who plots with Northup to overthrow the brig to New Orleans? 

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. According to Ira Berlin’s Introduction, what is one way that Twelve Years a Slave is different from other narratives about enslaved individuals?

2. Who was David Wilson, the writer of the original 1853 preface? What was his role in the composition of the book? Describe the general message of his preface and why it’s important to the text.

3. In Chapter 3, after Northup has been captured by James H. Burch, he bitterly reflects upon the fact that his slave pen is within sight of the Capitol building. What is the irony in this scene?

4. In Chapter 4, Northup meets an enslaved woman named Eliza Berry. Summarize her tale of betrayal.

Paired Resource

“Solomon Northup’s Descendants Proud of Their History”

• In this USA Today piece, the descendants of Northup speak about their response to the film adaptation of the book.
• The legacy of Slavery and the corrupt Systems of Power, Control, and Punishment that shaped Northup’s life has left a lasting mark on his family.
• Which of Northrup’s descendants’ comments left the greatest impression upon you? Why do you think they feel a sense of “pride” in Northup and their heritage?

Chapters 6-12

Reading Check

1. What demeaning acts does Freeman order the enslaved individuals to perform at the market?

2. Bayou Boeuf is located on the banks of what river?

3. What does Northup’s first enslaver William Ford make available for all those he enslaved? 

4. Why does John M. Tibeats resent Northup when he meets him in Chapter 7?

5. Who does Northup have to work for for a month, as punishment for his resistance to Tibeats? 

6. Which treacherous swamp does Northup escape into?

7. What skill is Patsey known for?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why would a badly scarred back “hurt the sale” of an enslaved person at auction?

2. When Northup defends himself from a beating administered by Tibeats in Chapter 8, Tibeats vows revenge. Later in the chapter, how does Tibeats attempt to exact his revenge? Who intervenes and why?

3. Tibeats gets the ultimate revenge against Northup in Chapter 11. What does he do to Northup?

Paired Resource

“In 'Stolen,' Five Boys Are Caught In A Reverse Underground Railroad Toward Slavery”

• This NPR piece is a discussion of historian John Bell’s 2019 book Stolen, in which he details the history of the “Reverse Underground Railroad.” The Reverse Underground Railroad is the system by which many free Black individuals were caught by enslavers and sold into slavery.
• Northup’s experiences in Twelve Years a Slave were far from uncommon in antebellum times. As described in this article, the kidnapping of free Black children and men to be sold into Slavery was part of a larger network and System of Power, Control, and Punishment designed to ensure Black people’s subjugation in America. 
• Did this discussion of the Reverse Underground Railroad shed any new light on Northup’s experience in Twelve Years a Slave? 

Chapters 13-18

Reading Check

1. What causes Northup to be sluggish and slow while picking cotton, incurring extra abuse from his enslavers?

2. What crop does Judge Turner grow on his plantation?

3. What three-day holiday break do the enslaved people look forward to each year?

4. Who is Northup speaking with when Epps’s wife overhears him and has him punished for disloyalty?

5. What object does Epps’s young son hold when he tours the field with his father?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the relationship between Patsey and Epps’s wife? What effect does their relationship have on Patsey in general?

2. What is the result when Northup tries to protect Patsey from Epps?

3. What happens to the enslaved person named Wiley, and why does Northup tell his story?

Paired Resource

“‘What’ll Become of Me?’: Finding the Real Patsey of 12 Years a Slave”

• Vanity Fair journalist Katie Calautti attempts to uncover the fate of the real-life Patsey, but instead reveals the sad truth about the lost legacy of enslaved women. 
• The Subjugation of Women and Family in slavery, as described in this article, led to the erasure of many women’s histories.
• What surprised you about the roadblocks that Calautti encountered in attempting to unearth research on Patsey? Which one did you find to be most unexpected? 

Chapters 19-22

Reading Check

1. Why does Epps hire a crew of carpenters?

2. What punishment does Northup receive for oversleeping?

3. Who are the two strangers who visit Epps’s plantation with news and a legal demand?

4. What happened to the letters Northup sent to New York?

5. What important document is Northup able to obtain before departing New Orleans?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the result of Northup's lawsuit against Burch, the person who illegally enslaved Northup?

2. Summarize Northup’s final journey. Does the end of the text strike a tone that is hopeful, tragic, or ambiguous?

Recommended Next Reads 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

• Frederick Douglass was a prominent abolitionist who escaped from slavery in 1838. In this autobiography, Douglass describes his experiences under slavery and how he eventually gained freedom.
• As a contemporary of Northrup, Douglass illuminates new dimensions on the themes of the Social Construction of Slavery and Systems of Power, Control, and Punishment.
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave on SuperSummary.com

Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market by Walter Johnson

• Published in 2001, this award-winning work of social history by Walter Johnson tells the story of antebellum slavery through an examination of the New Orleans “slave market.” The market was the largest in the country, where 100,000 men, women, and children were priced and sold.
• Johnson uses enslavers’ letters and primary source financial documentation to shine a light on the economic basis of Slavery as a System of Power and Control. This title explores how systems, like the one that entrapped Northrup, were so vital to America’s economic prosperity.
• Soul by Soul on SuperSummary.com