Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S., and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the [American] Civil War".
Title page for Volume I of the first edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
An engraving of Harriet Beecher Stowe from 1872, based on an oil painting by Alonzo Chappel
First appearance of Uncle Tom's Cabin as serialized in The National Era (June 5, 1851)
Full-page illustration by Hammatt Billings for the first edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Eliza tells Uncle Tom that he has been sold and she is running away to save her child.
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.
Stowe c. 1870
Portrait of Stowe by Alanson Fisher, 1853 (National Portrait Gallery)
Daguerreotype portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe grave