Uncle Tom’s Cabin

And A Narrative of a Slave

“Treat 'em like dogs, and

you'll have dogs' works and

dogs' actions. Treat 'em like

men, and you'll have men's

works.”—advice from

slave owner in

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Slavery by the numbers:

Untenable Facts

By the time slavery was abolished in 1865,

there were roughly 4 million slaves in the US.

Only 10% of slaves lived to see their 50s

On average, female slaves had 9 children and

were encouraged to have more. Many were sold

shortly after birth and were never seen again.

There were roughly 300,000 mulattos living as slaves—most

fathered by slaveholders .

The status quo could not

continue. Something had to

give.

Abolitionists were speaking

out. Underground Railroads

were at work. But too many

people were indifferent to

the plight of the slaves. The

cause needed a story. And a

face.

In 1851 a white lady from Cincinnati Ohio did a

gutsy thing.

She published a novel about slavery and it was not

kind to slaveholders.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin: or,

Life among the Lowly became a best seller and

an unqualified success, opening up conversations

between people who’d, until that point, taken it for

granted that slavery was a necessary evil.

Legend has it that Lincoln called her the “little lady

who started a big war”

But her book was not the first . . .

In 1845, a runaway slave by the name of William

Frederick Douglass presented his life story to the world.

“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an

American Slave, Written by Himself” was a best seller

too.

Both books were a success in their own right. And

both books brought something fresh to the subject

of slavery . . .

What they both brought to the table

Harriet Beecher Stowe

"I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted

with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to

Christianity - because as a lover of my county, I trembled at the coming day of

wrath.“—Harriet Beecher Stowe

o Stowe’s parents were activists. All six of her brothers and sisters were too. It was assumed she would be one as well.

o She married an abolitionist. o She wrote a total of 30 books. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

is by far the most famous.o Uncle Tom’s Cabin was inspired the death of her

own child.

Frederick Douglass

I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my

legs.—Frederick Douglass

o Frederick Douglass barely knew his mother. His father was his 1st owner.

o He learned to read on the sly, after his 2nd

mistress was chastised for teaching him his letters.

o After he made his escape at the age of 20 he became determined to give back to those who had helped him, so he became a public speaker.

o Many of his listeners didn’t believe he’d ever been a slave because he was so well-spoken.

o He wrote “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself “ to prove that he had been.

The Cultural Backdrop

Could the United States call itself the “land of

the free” as long as it continued to keep three

million people in chains?

Both Stowe and Douglass were living in a time of cultural and literary rebirth. America was in the midst of a

cultural Renaissance, inspired in part by the Transcendentalist reform. Ralph Waldo Emerson called on Americans

to “lead the country into a new age inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.” (Norton p 13). This

created an air of activism---Women’s suffrage, temperance reform, Native American Rights, and Antebellum reform

.“Slave Hunt by Thomas Moran 1862

• Slaves were property, not citizens, and had no

rights under the law in any state.

Activists like Stowe and Douglass

answered, “No.”

• Anyone who helped a slave escape was

subject to prison and huge fines.

Among the topics of debate was the Fugitive

Slave Act of 1850 which declared that:

Abolitionists were furious. Citizens of non-slave

holding states were indignant. Free blacks were

frightened, with good reason. Kidnapping was

common.

• Slaveholders did have the right to retrieve

their property from non-slaveholding states.

Literary Leaps Like Douglass and Stowe, other American writers were responding to the changes in their culture. They

were writing. They were writing a lot. Many of our best known classics were written in the early 1800s: The

Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, The Scarlett Letter, Leaves of Grass,

and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe are just a few of the works we’re still reading today.

• In the tradition of haunted Gothic

Castles with tragic heroines and

brave but flawed heroes, these

writers gave form to the anxieties

and fears of worried Americans.

• Nature featured prominently in

American works. Sometimes it was

warm and inviting. More often than

not, it was dark.

• Most works were informed heavily

by Romanticism. Language was

sentimental and melodramatic

designed to inspire and move

readers. Authorial intrusion was

common. Writers didn’t just tell

stories; they preached, moralized,

and pointed out injustices.

Deprived of all the comforts and constructs of a normal life,

Narrative of a Slave

with all family connections severed by slavery, the observer and

victim of incredible cruelty,

Douglass was an angry young black man by the time he made

his escape.

It is perhaps fortunate for all that he learned to read and write and

used that anger for the benefit of society instead of picking up a gun.

Douglass's Narrative reflected the Romantic storytelling style of the day. The language is heavily sentimental and

melodramatic. And, as is also typical, Douglass frequently digressed, giving over paragraphs to discussions of the

injustices of slavery, going into detail about the abuses he and other slaves suffered.

As it is autobiographical, Douglass's work is in first person and his is the only point of view we are provided with.

This means that his work, while powerful and important, is filtered entirely through his biases. He brings us into his

“otherness”, something Stowe was not in a position to explore—what it was like to be a black slave in the 19th

century and what it meant to be property and considered sub-human.

He also uses the opportunity to emphasize the empowerment of literacy and education--quoting a master who said

that once a slave learned to read that he was no longer good as a slave. The entire rest of the story points out,

sometimes openly, and with great irony, how correct the man was.

Life Among the Lowly

Unlike Douglass’s Narrative, "Uncle Tom" is a work of fiction, written in third person unlimited. Stowe's sources

for Uncle Tom’s Cabin were stories she heard from both from freed slaves themselves and stories passed around by

abolitionists. But like Douglass’s work, “Uncle Tom” is written in the Romantic style common to the 19th century

and frequently breaks with the plotline to moralize and discuss the cruelty taking place.

Uncle Tom's Cabin follows the lives of a small group of slaves after they are sold or escape, though most of the

story centers around Uncle Tom. We meet Tom, a Christian, and a dignified and gentle man, after his "kind", but

debt-ridden master sells him to a slave trader. We also meet Eliza who runs away in a desperate attempt to save

hers son, who has also been sold to the slave trader.

The story follows faithful Uncle Tom as he goes from one owner to another. We see him suffer at the hands of

both kind and cruel owners. We also watch as Eliza makes her way north by way of the Underground Railroad.

Along the way, through Tom and Eliza, we meet other slaves, slaveholders, and abolitionists. We hear the

arguments for and against slavery. And we see that even the most well-meant slave owners contribute to the

unjustness of the institution.

The Reception

Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Narrative of a Slave joined with other written works and became anti-slavery

documents, presenting powerful counter-points to the arguments made by slaveholders that the lives they were

providing for their slaves were comfortable and safe. For better or for worse, the cumulative effect was action.

And action was needed.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin found its way into the parlors and kitchens of the middle

and upper classes. Northerners who had ignored or concluded that slavery was

a necessary evil were outraged. Southerners were outraged too, but for very

different reasons. They claimed that the book was full of lies, and insisted their

slaves were well cared for and happy.

On both sides of the argument, thousands rallied to the cause. Whether one

agreed or disagreed, it was no longer possible to ignore the subject of slavery.

While Stowe’s work might not have started the Civil War, it certainly brought

the pot it was simmering in to a boiling point.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.

Written by Himself is considered one of the finest examples of 19th

century slave narratives.

Douglass was already considered a talented orator and essayist when

he wrote it, but his Narrative and other autobiographies opened

doors that might otherwise have been closed to a black man of the

19th century.

He ran a successful newspaper for several years; he was elected to

office in Washington DC; and he was invited to speak around the

world. Plantation Slave Quarters

Results of beating

Bibliography

Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle Tom's Cabin. 1851. The Norton Anthology of American

Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W.

Norton, 2012. 805-904. Print.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.

1845. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S.

Levine. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 1170-240. Print.

"American Civil War Photos." : African American Slavery Picures and Images. N.p., n.d.

Web. 27 July 2014. Pre-Civil War pictures of slaves.

American Civl War Photographs

"Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture." Uncle Tom's Cabin & American

Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014. Illustrations and encyclopedic facts about

Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Soba, Okinawa. "Black America." Black America. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

Pictures from slide 1 & 2. Extraordinary Source.

Black America Pre-Civil War Photos

"Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." Library of

Southern Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

Illustrations on slide 8.