Juneteenth: 7 milestones in the struggle to abolish slavery

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, June 19, 2022

Uncle Tom’s Cabin published – 1852

Harriet Beecher Stowe, American abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. | National Archives and Records Administration

One of the most influential fiction works in American history, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released in 1852 and became a bestseller within months of its debut.

The novel garnered widespread attention for its portrayal of American slavery, which further pushed the debate over the issue into the national consciousness.

“Public response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not all positive. Moderates praised the book for exposing slavery’s harsh realities, but abolitionists felt it was not forceful enough. Others called out some of Stowe’s characters as stereotypes. Pro-slavery advocates argued that Stowe had written an unrealistic, one-sided image of slavery,” explained the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.

“Stowe responded to her critics by writing The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an annotated bibliography of her sources. In The Key, Stowe highlighted people who inspired her characters and events. She hoped that identifying these sources would demonstrate that her novel was based on fact.”