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A MORAL BATTLE CRY FOR FREEDOM TO THE WORLD
Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, is an abolitionist novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It achieved wide popularity, particularly among white readers in the North, by vividly dramatizing the experience of slavery. When Stowe visited President Lincoln at the White House in 1862, he reportedly said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this Great War" This statement, regardless of its truth, testifies to Uncle Tom's Cabin's impact. Despite Stowe's desire to portray slavery as a powerful blight upon the nation, she also did much to expand anti-black sentiment through her presentation of stereotypical black characters in the novel. However, this book, read by hundreds of thousands of Americans, proved a powerful weapon in the campaign to end human bondage in the United States.
About the author
Harriet Beecher Stowe, born in 1811, was an influential writer and abolitionist, best known for Uncle Tom's Cabin. Raised in a religious family, she was deeply influenced by her father's activism and her own experiences with slavery. Through her writing, she became a strong advocate for social reform and worked to expose the horrors of slavery.Stowe faced personal struggles, including the loss of her son and the challenges of raising a large family. Her 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin became an instant bestseller, stirring the national conscience. Its powerful impact helped fuel the abolitionist movement and is said to have contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.Later in life, Stowe wrote novels, articles, and essays, though she remained most known for her anti-slavery work. She met with Abraham Lincoln, who called her "the little woman who started this great war." Stowe passed away in 1896, leaving a lasting legacy in the fight for civil rights.
