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Harriet Beecher Stoowe's View On Slavery

1582 Words7 Pages

The reality of slavery was depicted in the best selling book of the 19th century, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe put her anger towards slavery in this classic novel. It made publishing history by selling over a million copies in less than a year. This American classic didn't start out as a runaway hit, it took time to get the presses running for Uncle Tom. While living in Cincinnati, Stowe saw the firsthand effects of Southern prejudice since the city was a destination for both runaway slaves and free blacks. Uncle Tom’s Cabin wasn't the only time Stowe voiced her opinion on slavery. She had a handful of anti-slavery writings that were published. These writings established her reputation as a person opposed to slavery instead of …show more content…

In particular, the South loathed the novel. They thought it was an unreal portrayal of slavery. People were enraged at the wild perceptions of a slave and its master. They came to the conclusion that it was pure fiction since a Northern woman wouldn't know the first thing about slavery. While writing the novel “Stowe’s only direct contact with the South was a brief visit to Kentucky, but she read widely and was especially familiar with narratives of escaped slaves, antislavery tracts, and religious debates about slavery…” (Moss 408). She was able to make some Southerners admit to the horrors her novel includes even with the little information she had to administer the truth. The nation as a whole became torn. In 1853 Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin to give evidence that her novel realistically displayed slavery. The fight between the North and the South continued and so did the presses for Uncle Tom. America soon went through the Civil War. The novel’s popularity slowly faded after the North claimed victory. It was until the 1960s that Stowe’s first novel went through a renaissance. Special editions were published with new introductions and bibliographies (Parfait 184). The civil rights movement made Uncle Tom relevant once again. From then on it never left the public’s eye. It became a part of

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