Book

Uncle Tom's Cabin

or, Life Among the Lowly
Harriet Beecher Stowe
1852

Associated Excerpts

In this drawing from ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ a Black child is taken from his mother by a white man.

The Black Fugitive Who Inspired ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ and the End of US Slavery

Born enslaved, John Andrew Jackson spent his life fighting for freedom as a fugitive, abolitionist, lecturer and writer.
Tina Turner singing on stage

America Loved Tina Turner. But It Wasn’t Good To Her.

Over the course of her 83 years, the megawatt star that was Tina Turner kept telling us who she was in the hopes that we would see her — all of her.
Diaga Müller at the Onkel Toms Hütte U-Bahn station in Berlin.

A Berlin Subway Stop is Called ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ Some Black Germans Want Change.

Black Germans have used activism and scholarship to shed light on what they describe as Germany’s racist fascination with the American South.
Black preacher giving an antislavery sermon to an integrated audience.

Baptists, Slavery, and the Road to Civil War

Baptists were never monolithic on the issue of slavery, but Southern Baptists were united in their opposition to Northern Baptists determining their beliefs.

Escaped Nuns

Why some antebellum reformers thought convents were incompatible with "true womanhood."
Josiah Henson

Before ‘Uncle Tom’ Was a Bestseller, He Was Josiah Henson

Born into slavery, this preacher and Underground Railroad conductor served as the inspiration for a history-making book.
Lithograph of Josiah Henson in his autobiography.

The Story of Josiah Henson, the Real Inspiration for 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin'

Before Stowe's famous novel, a formerly enslaved African-American living in Canada wrote a memoir detailing his experience.
Jim Crow-era postcard with illustration of a black boy in the jaws of an alligator

How America Bought and Sold Racism, and Why It Still Matters

Today, very few white Americans openly celebrate the horrors of black enslavement—most refuse to recognize the brutal nature of the institution or activ...