Arts >> Books >> Literature

What are facts about Harriet Beecher Stowe?

Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) increased public support for the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Here are some facts about Harriet Beecher Stowe:

* She was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut, to Lyman Beecher, a prominent Congregationalist minister, and Roxana Foote Beecher.

* She had six older siblings, including Henry Ward Beecher, who also became a prominent clergyman and abolitionist.

* She grew up in a religious and intellectual environment, and her father's views on abolition and social reform influenced her own thinking.

* In 1832, she married Calvin Ellis Stowe, a professor at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio.

* They had seven children together, but three died in infancy or childhood.

* In 1850, the Stowes moved to Brunswick, Maine, where Calvin Stowe became a professor at Bowdoin College.

* While living in Cincinnati, Stowe witnessed the horrors of slavery firsthand, and she became an active abolitionist.

* In 1852, she published Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel that depicted the cruelties of slavery and the impact it had on the lives of both enslaved people and slave owners.

* The novel was a huge success, selling over 300,000 copies in its first year and being translated into more than 20 languages.

* It helped to raise public awareness of the issue of slavery and is credited with contributing to the outbreak of the American Civil War.

* After the war, Stowe continued to write and lecture on abolition and women's rights. She also supported other social reforms, such as prison reform and education for African Americans.

* She died on July 1, 1896, at her home in Hartford, Connecticut.

* Harriet Beecher Stowe is considered one of the most influential writers in American history.

Literature

Related Categories