Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

February 03, 2021

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

One of the most influential works of abolitionist literature is Harriet Beecher Stowe’s work Uncle Tom’s Cabin. We just acquired a copy of this famous work, with the author's authentic signature and a custom archival case!

This highly influential novel was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896). Stowe wrote over 30 books, but it was her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin that provided her international fame. In 1851, Stowe wrote a piece for the abolitionist newspaper The National Era, which would in her mind “paint a word picture of slavery.” The story of Uncle Tom's Cabin was expected to be told in three or four installments, but it eventually grew to more than 40.

Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of Uncle Tom, portrayed as a dutiful slave. While being transported to an auction in New Orleans, Tom saves the life of Little Eva. Grateful, Little Eva’s father purchases Tom. Tom and Eva become fast friends, though Eva’s health begins to decline. On her deathbed, Eva requests her father to free all of his slaves. He makes plans to do so, but is killed by Simon Legree before he is able. Legree becomes Tom’s new owner, and brutally tortures and kills Tom. The story served as a dramatic yet realistic account of the horrible way that slaves were treated in the country. 

The book was first published in 1852. It is known famously as an influential abolitionist work of literature, which described the harsh conditions endured by enslaved African Americans. The work became extremely popular in the United States and Great Britain in the year following its publication, with over 300,000 copies sold in the first year.

“So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." -Attributed to Abraham Lincoln

The work was later adapted for theater multiple times. This made the story accessible to a widespread American audience, contributing to further praise of the story in the North and heightened animosity towards it in the South. In many ways, the novel informed the public and started conversations about slavery in both the North and South.

Stowe’s writings of slavery were informed by her personal experiences while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the 1830s and ‘40s, which was a destination for escaped slaves. She herself sheltered an escaped slave and helped along the informal underground railroad. Stowe wrote her novel based on these experiences, as well as first-hand accounts from formerly enslaved people. Stowe borrowed from past works written by enslaved people including Josiah Henson, Lewis Clarke, and Solomon Northup. Hers was one work in a large body of abolitionist literature.






Also in Blog

The Beautiful and the Damned: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Beautiful and the Damned: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald

September 20, 2023

The Beautiful and the Damned, published in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, presents the reader with a fictionalized telling of the perpetually problematic relationship between Zelda and Frances Scott Key Fitzgerald.  The novel is not only a landmark in the career of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but a glimpse into past high-societies wrapped up in a rebound cover of blue leather and hand-worked gilding. 

View full article →

JFK and James Bond
JFK and James Bond

August 29, 2023

President John F. Kennedy was a fan of Ian Fleming’s spy novels, and helped propel him to fame in the American market.

View full article →

California in Three Maps
California in Three Maps

August 23, 2023

California has a very interesting mapping history. During and after the Mexican-American War, efforts to map California increased. Once gold was discovered in 1848, cartographers, geographers, and business men hurried to survey the land, lay claim to it, and, ultimately, market it to Americans heading west. When California joined the Union as the thirty-first state in 1851, interest in plotting California's landscapes skyrocketed in tandem with its population. Explore the history of California with these three maps from our collection. 

View full article →