USH - Harriet Beecher Stowe - Church

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut, the seventh child of a Protestant preacher. She died on July 1, 1896 in Johnstown, Ohio at the age of 85. She worked as a teacher with her older sister, Catharine, for a time. She helped to support her family financially by writing for local and religious periodicals. During her life, she wrote many poems, travel books, biographical sketches, and children’s books, as well as adult novels. She also “met and corresponded with people as varied as Lady Byron and George Eliot”.

Although she wrote at least ten adult novels, she is predominantly known for her first, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852. It began as a serial for the Washington anti-slavery Weekly (the National Era), and it focused public interest on the issue of slavery, while being deeply controversial. Attacking the cruelty of slavery, it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential, even overseas in Britain. The book had an amazing effect in the North, attracting thousands of people to the abolitionist movement. The south, however, found that the book was a false account of southern life, “a slanderous accusation.” Banned in many southern states, anyone found possessing the book could be arrested. It made the political issue of slavery concrete to millions of people, and animated anti-slavery forces in the North. In fact, when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe, it’s claimed that he said, “So you’re the little woman that started this great war!” After this book was published, she became a kind of celebrity, speaking against slavery not only in America, but in Europe as well.

However, “the historical significance of Stowe’s antislavery writing has tended to draw attention away from her other work, and from her work’s literary significance.” Admittedly, her work is irregular, sometimes indulging in a “romanticized Christian sensibility” that was popular at the time, but seems to lack credibility with modern readers. At times, though, she was an “early and effective realist,” describing the setting of her works accurately and with great detail. She shows an understanding of the complex social culture of her time through her portraits of local social life, and she had a great ability to portray that culture to others.