Uncle Tom's Cabin, By Harriet Beecher, Stowe

Learning about slavery throughout the years in middle school and high school was very equivalent to each other. I remember learning about how the slaves were captured and brought over to the new world to be tortured and used. There was not one good thing said about slavery and what they did to the black people was cruel, until I read the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. There’s so much happening behind the story and it shows a different slide to slavery.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher, Stowe. What caught me off guard was that the author was a white female who is an active abolitionist. She was inspired to write this novel after reading a narrative called The Life of Josiah Henson. Henson was a black slave who played the same role as Tom did in the novel. There were some differences from the book to the narrative, but it still captures the realness on what Henson experienced.

My U.S. history teacher would demonstrate and clarify how slavery was absolutely inhumane and disgusting. I remember him using some of the students as an example on how the slaves were brought over to the United States in the ships. He would make the students lay on the floor, next to each other super close, and made sure they didn’t move for the rest of the class period. He would go into detail about how the slaves were not allowed to get up and walk around or use the bathroom. Also, plenty of them died on the way over to the states and they didn’t move the dead body until they arrived at their