When most people hear the name Harriet Beecher Stowe, they think not of the woman herself but of her most famous creation, Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly (1851-1852). Nearly every American is familiar with this novel's staunch abolitionist stance and the role it had in shaping the antebellum popular imagination. The blatant sentimentality of the book--its flagrantly emotional appeal to popular tastes--and its deft manipulation of stereotypes in its portrayal of African Americans have served to obscure Stowe's achievements. (Adams, 1963) Even Abraham Lincoln's praise for her as "the little woman" who was responsible for the Civil War has a condescending ring to it.
Early Life
Lyman Beecher, Harriet Beecher's father, was a stern New England Calvinist preacher whose image of a God who predestined humans to heaven or hell left a mark on his children. The fact that Harriet's mother died when she was four made Harriet's father's influence even more important. …
