Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. Her mother died when she was five and her father quickly remarried. Harriet grew up with seven brothers and three sisters. Her rigid Christian girlhood in Connecticut and the influence of her well-known Congregationalist minister father, instilled in Harriet the first seeds of a lifelong commitment to social justice and the keeping of God’s commandments.

In 1832, the Beecher family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. It is here, where Harriet (21 years of age) saw slaves for the first time. She saw slaves treated kindly but, also saw owners abuse their slaves. She visited stations of the Underground Railroad and witnessed families being broken apart at slave auctions in Cincinnati, as well as race riots. During this time in Cincinnati, Harriet realized she would always oppose the practice of slavery. And in 1833, Harriet publishes her first newspaper article against slavery.

In 1836, Harriet marries Calvin Stowe, a respected scholar and preacher. After 18 years of living and writing in Cincinnati, the Stowes move to Brunswick, Maine.

Harriet wrote because: She needed the $ Righteous background supported it A break from domestic life Fugitive Slave Law

After Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet continued to write – almost a novel a year- yet her family was constantly plagued by financial problems. She was always outspoken on controversial moral issues: temperance, women’s suffrage, and of course, slavery, although she never fully allied herself with the radical abolitionists.

Harriet wrote: “I have determined not to be a mere domestic slave!”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is Published 1852 This book was the first American novel in which whites could read of black heroes who had great strength, dignity, intelligence, and religious feeling. No story had so successfully tried to show whites how it would feel to be enslaved. This novel created an international uproar. Harriet becomes one of the world’s most admired women.

Harriet’s success as a writer did end the Stowes’ worries about money for a period of time. Her first payment for Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852 was $10,300 – an ENORMOUS sum at the time!

10,000 copies were sold in the first week. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was also translated into 37 languages and was reviewed by Thomas Babington Macaulay, and George Sand.

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp 1856 This book turned into an attack on slaveholders after South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks beats antislavery Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane on the floor of the Senate.

Harriet meets with President Abraham Lincoln in President says to Harriet: “So this is the little lady who made this great war”.

Harriet wrote everything from biographical sketches to short stories to travel pieces. This also included children’s stories, religious poetry, countless articles and 33 books. She celebrated the worth of all people – black and white, male and female- and above all attacked racial injustice.

Woman Against Slavery by John Antony Scott The History Department at the Fieldston School in Riverdale (Bronx), N.Y. Dr. John Anthony Scott is at the far right in next slide. Dr. Scott was GiGi Lincoln's media specialist at Lakeview High School) history teacher in high school.

John Anthony Scott