“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Published This Date in 1852

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible.

Engraving in "UncleTom's Cabin"
Engraving in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” – Eliza says goodbye to Uncle Tom as she leaves to escape slavery.

It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. The book and the plays it inspired helped popularize a number of stereotypes about black people. These include the affectionate, dark-skinned “mammy”; the “pickaninny” stereotype of black children; and the “Uncle Tom”, or dutiful, long-suffering servant faithful to his white master or mistress. In recent years, the negative associations with Uncle Tom’s Cabinhave, to an extent, overshadowed the historical impact of the book as a “vital antislavery tool.”

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The Civil War led to a brief period of freedom known as the Reconstruction Era.

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