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Housekeeping:

• TBA

Agenda:

Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Brouhaha 

The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law

This PBS video explains the Fugitive Slave Law and it's impact on America: http://video.pbs.org/video/2319483495/. 

How do these posters resemble the message of Uncle Tom's Cabin?

One of the central problems with Uncle Tom's Cabin is Stowe's racism (or racial essentialism) and her white perspective. Just like these posters she, she speaks about a group with which she has little contact (and little identification).

In Uncle Tom's Cabin, there is a cankerous old white woman from Massachusetts (like Stowe - only MA character in the text, to my recollection). This character is a staunch abolitionist, but she won't touch Topsy (the African-American child). Topsy calls her out on her hypocrisy and she admits it. She is a clearly flawed (but developing) character. I wonder if Stowe would identify with that character! 

Group Work: Fugitive Slave Poster

What does this artifact tell us about slavery in America after 1850?  How does this relate to your reading in Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin?

Harriet Beecher Stowe

I thought this was an interesting replacement of Andrew Jackson with Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) published more than 30 books, but it was her best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin which catapulted her to international celebrity and secured her place in history.

But Uncle Tom's Cabin was not Stowe's only work. Her broad range of interests resulted in such varied publications as children's text books, advice books on homemaking and childrearing, biographies and religious studies. The informal, conversational style of her many novels permitted her to reach audiences that more scholarly or argumentative works would not, and encouraged everyday people to address such controversial topics as slavery, religious reform, and gender roles.

Harriet Beecher Stowe believed her actions could make a positive difference. Her words changed the world.

Stowe the Writer

Stowe's passion for writing allowed her to

• Publicly express her thoughts and beliefs in a time when a woman could not speak publicly, much less vote or hold office
• Contribute financially to the Stowe family household income

Stowe's publishing career began before her marriage, with:

• Primary Geography for Children (1833) Her sympathetic approach to Catholicism, unusual for its time, won her the praise of the local bishop.
• New England Sketches (1835), a short story collection

Later works include:

• The Mayflower: Sketches of Scenes and Characters among the Descendants of the Pilgrims.(1843)
• "The Coral Ring" (1843) a short story which promoted temperance, and an anti-slavery tract.
• Numerous articles, essays and short stories regularly published in newspapers and journals

In 1851, The National Era's publisher Gamaliel Bailey contracted with Stowe for a story that would "paint a word picture of slavery" and that would run in installments. Stowe expected Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly to be three or four installments. She wrote more than 40.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, brought not only financial security, it enabled Stowe to write full time. She began publishing multiple works per year including the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, which documented the case histories on which she had based her novel, andDred: A Tale from the Swamp, another and more forceful anti-slavery novel.

Other notable works include The Minister's Wooing, which helped American Protestants move towards a more forgiving form of Christianity while simultaneously helping Stowe resolve the death of her oldest son, Henry Ellis Stowe; The American Woman's Home, a practical guide to homemaking, co-authored with sister Catharine Beecher; and Lady Byron Vindicated, which strove to defend Stowe's friend Lady Byron and immersed Stowe herself in scandal.

In all, Harriet Beecher Stowe's writing career spanned 51 years, during which time she published 30 books and countless short stories, poems, articles, and hymns.

A comprehensive bibliography for Harriet Beecher Stowe can be found at the University of Pennsylvania.

Stowe on Stage

Stowe traveled around the world as a protest drama. As a drama, it took on a new life. But it also took on new stereotypes. American dramas of Uncle Tom's Cabin often became "black-face" (i.e. racist) comedies, especially after the Civil War.