Stowe's graphic depiction of slave life — based on true stories — personalized the issue,
reclaiming it from the sanitized domain of courtroom legalese. Her story outraged some and
inspired many others. To her critics, she answered with A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1853 to
provide documentation that every incident in her book had actually happened.
While there is no doubt about the widespread influence of Uncle Tom 's Cabin, there is one myth
worth clearing up. “Stowe's fictional Uncle Tom was no Uncle Tom,” says historian Richard
Shenkman. “He was kindly, considerate, humane, and brave… In the plays based on her book…
Tom is subservient and spineless. Only in the book is he noble.”
“The copies can be counted, but the emotional impact can't be calculated so easily,” says Davis.
“It is safe to say that no other literary work since 1776, when Tom Paine's Common Sense incited
a wave of pro-Independence fervor, has the political impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin.”
reclaiming it from the sanitized domain of courtroom legalese. Her story outraged some and
inspired many others. To her critics, she answered with A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1853 to
provide documentation that every incident in her book had actually happened.
While there is no doubt about the widespread influence of Uncle Tom 's Cabin, there is one myth
worth clearing up. “Stowe's fictional Uncle Tom was no Uncle Tom,” says historian Richard
Shenkman. “He was kindly, considerate, humane, and brave… In the plays based on her book…
Tom is subservient and spineless. Only in the book is he noble.”
“The copies can be counted, but the emotional impact can't be calculated so easily,” says Davis.
“It is safe to say that no other literary work since 1776, when Tom Paine's Common Sense incited
a wave of pro-Independence fervor, has the political impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin.”
TIMELINE:
1863 The first black regiments fight for the North during the Civil War.
December 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment passes and slavery is abolished.
1865 Walt Whitman writes “O Captain! My Captain!”
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