Harriet Beecher Stowe, American novelist and short-story writer, is famous for one of the most powerful anti-slavery novels ever written, her Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Early Years of Harriet Beecher Stowe
American novelist Harriet (Elizabeth) Beecher Stowe (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896), was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. The daughter of a church minister, Lyman Beecher, she had one sister and six brothers. Her mother died when she was four. She was brought up with puritanical strictness and joined her sister Catharine Beecher at the Connecticut Female Seminary at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1824. The family moved to Cincinnati, and later, Stowe started teaching at a girls' school and wrote stories for magazines in her spare time.
Harriet B. Stowe's Married Life
Aged 25, in 1836, she married a minister like her father, the Rev. Calvin Ellis Stowe, who was also a theological professor at Lane Seminary. They settled in Maine later. She continued writing and contributed sketches of southern life to Western Monthly Magazine, winning a short-story competition for A New England Sketch. Over the next years, the couple had seven children, which didn't leave much time for Harriet Stowe to write.
Anti-slavery Novel a Masterpiece
She managed to work on Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was eventually published when Stowe was 41. The book caused an immediate sensation, selling 300,000 copies within a year. Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the heart-rending story of a slave, the 'Uncle Tom' of the title, who is bought and sold three times in his life and is finally beaten to death by his last owner. In the northern states the book stirred up strong feelings of disgust against slavery.
Harriet B. Stowe as a Hymnwriter
Harriet B. Stowe is also known for the poignant poetic lyrics of the Christian hymn "Still, Still With Thee" originally titled "Resting in God" with music tune "Consolation" composed by Felix Mendelssohn. It was written by her while meditating on Psalm 139: 17 and 18.
More Novels for Stowe
Her second anti-slavery novel four years later, Dred: A Tale of the Dismal Swamp, became a bookseller in Great Britain, thanks to review by George Eliot. Stowe made a lot of money from her novel and was able to go on speaking tours in Europe. She wrote other works including fiction, biography and other books, but concentrated on stories about her native New England. They were not as popular but still considered some of her best works, such as The Minister's Wooing and Old Town Folks. Although Stowe believed in the equality of all people, the criticism of Uncle Tom's Cabin has been that the main character seems happy to be serving his kind owners.
Books by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852
- The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1853
- Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, 1856
- The Minister's Wooing, 1859
- The Pearl of Orr's Island, 1862
- Old Town Folks, 1869
- We and Our Neighbours, 1875
- A Dog's Mission, 1880
Sources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers (2002)
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse (1994)
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