Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Harriet Beecher Stowe" - New World
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[[image:Harriet_Beecher_Stowe.jpg|thumb|left|Harriet Beecher Stowe]] | [[image:Harriet_Beecher_Stowe.jpg|thumb|left|Harriet Beecher Stowe]] | ||
| − | '''Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe''', (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) is best known as the author of the anti-slavery novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', which played a significant role in the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]]. Stowe wrote the work in reaction to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it illegal to assist an escaped slave. | + | '''Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe''', (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) is best known as the author of the anti-[[slavery]] novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', which played a significant role in the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]]. Stowe wrote the work in reaction to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it illegal to assist an escaped slave. |
After the publication of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', Stowe became an international celebrity and a popular author. In addition to novels, poetry and essays, she wrote non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects including homemaking and the raising of children, and religion. She wrote in an informal conversational style, and presented herself as an average wife and mother. | After the publication of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', Stowe became an international celebrity and a popular author. In addition to novels, poetry and essays, she wrote non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects including homemaking and the raising of children, and religion. She wrote in an informal conversational style, and presented herself as an average wife and mother. | ||
| + | Raised in a religious family and educated a | ||
==Early Life== | ==Early Life== | ||
| − | Born in | + | Born in Litchfield, Connecticut and raised primarily in Hartford, she was the seventh of 11 children born to Rev. Lyman Beecher, an [[abolition movement|abolitionist]] Congregationalist preacher from Boston and Roxana Foote Beecher. Many of her brothers and sisters became famous reformers. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), a noted minister in Brooklyn, New York, was active in the abolitionist movement. [http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=76 Catharine Beecher](1800-1878) founded many schools for young women throughout the country and was a prolific author while her youngest sister, Isabella (1822-1907), became active in the women's suffrage movement. |
| + | |||
| + | Her mother, a granddaughter of General Andrew Ward, died of tuberculosis at 41 - when Harriet was only four. Two years later a stepmother took over the household. | ||
| + | Stowe was named after her aunt, Harriet Foote, who deeply influenced her thinking, especially with her strong belief in culture. Samuel Foote, her uncle, encouraged her to read works of [[Lord Byron]] and [[Sir Walter Scott]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | When Stowe was eleven, she entered the seminary at Hartford, Connecticut, kept by her elder sister Catherine. The school had advanced curriculum and she learned languages, natural and mechanical science, composition, ethics, logic, and mathematics. At that time, Hartford Female Seminary was one of only a handful of schools that took the education of girls seriously. Four years after entering as a student she became an assistant teacher. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Her father married again and in 1832 the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he became the President of Lane Theological Seminary. Cincinnati was a hotbed of the abolitionist movement and this is where she gained first-hand knowledge of slavery and the [[Underground railroad]] that led her to write ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. | ||
[[Image:Harriet Beecher Stowe - Project Gutenberg eText 16786.jpg|thumb|Harriet Beecher Stowe]] | [[Image:Harriet Beecher Stowe - Project Gutenberg eText 16786.jpg|thumb|Harriet Beecher Stowe]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Marriage and family== | ||
In [[1836]] Harriet Beecher married [[Calvin Stowe]], a clergyman and widower. Later she and her husband moved to [[Brunswick, Maine]], when he obtained an academic position at [[Bowdoin College]]. Harriet and Calvin had seven children, but some died in early childhood. Her first children, twin girls Hattie and Eliza, were born on September 29, 1836. Four years later, in 1840, her son Frederick William was born. In 1848 the birth of Samuel Charles occurred, but in the following year, he died from a cholera epidemic. She is buried on the grounds of [[Phillips Academy]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]].<ref>[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=992 Find-A-Grave Entry on Harriet Beecher Stowe, buried on Phillips Academy Campus]</ref> | In [[1836]] Harriet Beecher married [[Calvin Stowe]], a clergyman and widower. Later she and her husband moved to [[Brunswick, Maine]], when he obtained an academic position at [[Bowdoin College]]. Harriet and Calvin had seven children, but some died in early childhood. Her first children, twin girls Hattie and Eliza, were born on September 29, 1836. Four years later, in 1840, her son Frederick William was born. In 1848 the birth of Samuel Charles occurred, but in the following year, he died from a cholera epidemic. She is buried on the grounds of [[Phillips Academy]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]].<ref>[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=992 Find-A-Grave Entry on Harriet Beecher Stowe, buried on Phillips Academy Campus]</ref> | ||
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==Writing career== | ==Writing career== | ||
| − | 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'' sold more than 10,000 copies the first week | + | n Cincinnati, Harriet became a member of the Semi-Colon Club, a local literary society in which members wrote articles which were read and discussed by other participants. Her experiences in this club sharpened her writing style. During her early married years, Harriet began to publish stories and magazine articles to supplement the family income. While she lived in Cincinnati, Harriet co-authored a book, Primary Geography for Children. After the publication of this book Harriet received a special commendation from the bishop of Cincinnati because it conveyed a positive image of the Catholic religion. Harriet's religious tolerance was unusual for Protestants at the time. |
| + | |||
| + | First published in serial form from 1851 to 1852 in an abolitionist organ, the ''National Era'', ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' sold more than 10,000 copies the first week it was published as a book. In the story 'Uncle Tom' is bought and sold three times and finally beaten to death by his last owner. The book was quickly translated into 37 languages and it sold over half a million copies in the United States over five years. The book was turned into a play that also became very popular. | ||
| + | |||
| − | + | "I could not control the story, the Lord himself wrote it," Stowe once said. "I was but an instument in His hands and to Him should be given all the praise." When Abraham Lincoln met the author he joked, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." Uncle Tom's Cabin was smuggled into Russia in Yiddish to evade the czarist censor. Leo Tolstoy praised the work and it remained enormously popular also after the Revolution. | |
| − | + | "I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." (from Uncle Tom's Cabin) | |
| − | |||
| + | Stowe's fame opened her doors to the national literary magazines. She started to publish her writings in The Atlantic Monthly and later in Independent and in Christian Union. For some time she was the most celebrated woman writer in The Atlantic Monthly and in the New England literary clubs. In 1853, 1856, and 1859 Stowe made journeys to Europe, where she became friends with George Eliot, Elisabeth Barrett Browning, and Lady Byron. However, the British public opinion turned against her when she charged Lord Byron with incestuous relations with his half-sister. In Lady Byrin Vindicated (1870) she accused him in the writing. Both the magazine Atlantic, where the text first appeared, and Stowe, suffered. | ||
| + | Thorugh out the years of 1862 and 1864,HB was able to write at least a book a year during that time. | ||
| + | Attacks on the veracity of her portrayal of the South led Stowe to publish The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853), in which she presented her source material. A second anti-slavery novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856), told the story of a dramatic attempt at slave rebellion. | ||
Harriet went on to publish ''[[A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', a non-fiction work documenting the veracity of her depiction of the lives of slaves in the original novel. | Harriet went on to publish ''[[A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', a non-fiction work documenting the veracity of her depiction of the lives of slaves in the original novel. | ||
| − | + | ||
| + | Stowe's later works did not gain the same popularity as Uncle Tom's Cabin. She published novels, studies of social life, essays, and a small volume of religious poems. The Stowes lived in Hartford in summer and spent their winters in Florida, where they had a luxurious home. The Pearl of Orr's Island (1862), Old-Town Folks (1869), and Poganuc People (1878) were partly based on her husband's childhood reminiscenes and are among the first examples of local color writing in New England. Poganuc People was Stowe's last novel. Her mental faculties failed in 1888, two years after the death of her husband. She died on July 1, 1896 in Hartford, Connecticut. | ||
== Quotations == | == Quotations == | ||
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*''[[Poganuc People]]'' (1878) | *''[[Poganuc People]]'' (1878) | ||
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==Credits== | ==Credits== | ||
Revision as of 02:59, 23 November 2006
Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) is best known as the author of the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which played a significant role in the outbreak of the American Civil War. Stowe wrote the work in reaction to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it illegal to assist an escaped slave.
After the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe became an international celebrity and a popular author. In addition to novels, poetry and essays, she wrote non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects including homemaking and the raising of children, and religion. She wrote in an informal conversational style, and presented herself as an average wife and mother.
Raised in a religious family and educated a
Early Life
Born in Litchfield, Connecticut and raised primarily in Hartford, she was the seventh of 11 children born to Rev. Lyman Beecher, an abolitionist Congregationalist preacher from Boston and Roxana Foote Beecher. Many of her brothers and sisters became famous reformers. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), a noted minister in Brooklyn, New York, was active in the abolitionist movement. Catharine Beecher(1800-1878) founded many schools for young women throughout the country and was a prolific author while her youngest sister, Isabella (1822-1907), became active in the women's suffrage movement.
Her mother, a granddaughter of General Andrew Ward, died of tuberculosis at 41 - when Harriet was only four. Two years later a stepmother took over the household. Stowe was named after her aunt, Harriet Foote, who deeply influenced her thinking, especially with her strong belief in culture. Samuel Foote, her uncle, encouraged her to read works of Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott.
When Stowe was eleven, she entered the seminary at Hartford, Connecticut, kept by her elder sister Catherine. The school had advanced curriculum and she learned languages, natural and mechanical science, composition, ethics, logic, and mathematics. At that time, Hartford Female Seminary was one of only a handful of schools that took the education of girls seriously. Four years after entering as a student she became an assistant teacher.
Her father married again and in 1832 the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he became the President of Lane Theological Seminary. Cincinnati was a hotbed of the abolitionist movement and this is where she gained first-hand knowledge of slavery and the Underground railroad that led her to write Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Marriage and family
In 1836 Harriet Beecher married Calvin Stowe, a clergyman and widower. Later she and her husband moved to Brunswick, Maine, when he obtained an academic position at Bowdoin College. Harriet and Calvin had seven children, but some died in early childhood. Her first children, twin girls Hattie and Eliza, were born on September 29, 1836. Four years later, in 1840, her son Frederick William was born. In 1848 the birth of Samuel Charles occurred, but in the following year, he died from a cholera epidemic. She is buried on the grounds of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[1]
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio is the former home of her father Lyman Beecher on the former campus of the Lane Seminary. Harriet lived here until her marriage. It is open to the public and operated as an historical and cultural site, focusing on Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Lane Seminary and the Underground Railroad. The site also presents African-American history. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45206. [1]
Writing career
n Cincinnati, Harriet became a member of the Semi-Colon Club, a local literary society in which members wrote articles which were read and discussed by other participants. Her experiences in this club sharpened her writing style. During her early married years, Harriet began to publish stories and magazine articles to supplement the family income. While she lived in Cincinnati, Harriet co-authored a book, Primary Geography for Children. After the publication of this book Harriet received a special commendation from the bishop of Cincinnati because it conveyed a positive image of the Catholic religion. Harriet's religious tolerance was unusual for Protestants at the time.
First published in serial form from 1851 to 1852 in an abolitionist organ, the National Era, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold more than 10,000 copies the first week it was published as a book. In the story 'Uncle Tom' is bought and sold three times and finally beaten to death by his last owner. The book was quickly translated into 37 languages and it sold over half a million copies in the United States over five years. The book was turned into a play that also became very popular.
"I could not control the story, the Lord himself wrote it," Stowe once said. "I was but an instument in His hands and to Him should be given all the praise." When Abraham Lincoln met the author he joked, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." Uncle Tom's Cabin was smuggled into Russia in Yiddish to evade the czarist censor. Leo Tolstoy praised the work and it remained enormously popular also after the Revolution.
"I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." (from Uncle Tom's Cabin)
Stowe's fame opened her doors to the national literary magazines. She started to publish her writings in The Atlantic Monthly and later in Independent and in Christian Union. For some time she was the most celebrated woman writer in The Atlantic Monthly and in the New England literary clubs. In 1853, 1856, and 1859 Stowe made journeys to Europe, where she became friends with George Eliot, Elisabeth Barrett Browning, and Lady Byron. However, the British public opinion turned against her when she charged Lord Byron with incestuous relations with his half-sister. In Lady Byrin Vindicated (1870) she accused him in the writing. Both the magazine Atlantic, where the text first appeared, and Stowe, suffered.
Thorugh out the years of 1862 and 1864,HB was able to write at least a book a year during that time. Attacks on the veracity of her portrayal of the South led Stowe to publish The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853), in which she presented her source material. A second anti-slavery novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856), told the story of a dramatic attempt at slave rebellion. Harriet went on to publish A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, a non-fiction work documenting the veracity of her depiction of the lives of slaves in the original novel.
Stowe's later works did not gain the same popularity as Uncle Tom's Cabin. She published novels, studies of social life, essays, and a small volume of religious poems. The Stowes lived in Hartford in summer and spent their winters in Florida, where they had a luxurious home. The Pearl of Orr's Island (1862), Old-Town Folks (1869), and Poganuc People (1878) were partly based on her husband's childhood reminiscenes and are among the first examples of local color writing in New England. Poganuc People was Stowe's last novel. Her mental faculties failed in 1888, two years after the death of her husband. She died on July 1, 1896 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Quotations
"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, until it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the time and place that the tide will turn."
"Common sense is seeing things as they are;and doing things as they ought to be."
"What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness,is a certain quality of magnanimity & greatness of soul that brings life within the circle of heroic."
"To be really great in the little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare to be worthy of canonization."
"The past, the present and the future are really one; they are today."
"One would like to be grand and heroic, if one could; but if not,why try at all? One wants to be very something, very great, very heroic;or if not that, then at least try.It is this everlasting mediocrity that bores me."
"No one is so throughly superstitious as the godless man."
"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
"Most mothers are instintive philosophers."
"In the ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful things that God makes are His gift to all alike."
"I am speaking now of the highest duty we owe our friends, the noblest, the most sacred-that of keeping their own nobleness, goodness, pure and incorrupt."
"Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us; but most people do all they can to get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do."
"A little reflection will enable any person to detect in himself that setness in trifles which is the result of the unwatched instinct of self-will and to establish over himself a jealous guardianship."
Partial list of works
- Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851)
- A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853)
- Dred, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856)
- The Minister's Wooing (1859)
- The Pearl of Orr's Island (1862)
- As "Christopher Crowfield"
- House and Home Papers (1865)
- Little Foxes (1866)
- The Chimney Corner (1868)
- Old Town Folks (1869)
- The Ghost in the Cap'n Brown (1870)
- Lady Byron Vindicated (1870)
- My Wife and I (1871)
- Pink and White Tyranny (1871)
- We and Our Neighbors (1875)
- Poganuc People (1878)
Credits
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/stowe/StoweHB.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blstowe.htm Sept 5 2006
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/harriet_beecher_stowe.html
Sept 5 2006
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/37690.html Sept 1 2006
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 31, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition: http://www.library.eb.com/eb/article-9069861 Aug 31 2006
References and further reading
- Adams, John R. (1963). Harriet Beecher Stowe. Twayne Publishers, Inc.. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 63-17370.
- Jeanne Boydston, Mary Kelley, and Anne Margolis, The Limits of Sisterhood: The Beecher Sisters on Women's Rights and Woman's Sphere (U of North Carolina Press, 1988),
- Matthews, Glenna. "'Little Women' Who Helped Make This Great War" in Gabor S. Boritt, ed. Why the Civil War Came - Oxford University Press pp 31-50.
- Constance Mayfield Rourke; Trumpets of Jubilee: Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lyman Beecher, Horace Greeley, P.T. Barnum (1927).
- Thulesius, Olav (2001). Harriet Beecher Stowe in Florida, 1867-1884. McFarland and Company, Inc..
- Weinstein, Cindy. The Cambridge Companion to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Cambridge Companions to Literature (Cctl). Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2004. ISBN 9780521533096 Template:Invalid isbn(pbk.); ISBN 9780521825924 Template:Invalid isbn(hbk.)
External links
- Harriet Beecher Stowe House & Center - Stowe's adulthood home in Hartford, Connecticut
- Harriet Beecher Stowe Society—Scholarly organization dedicated to the study of the life and works of Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Brief biography at Kirjasto (Pegasos)
- The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)
- Works by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Project Gutenberg
- Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe Compiled From Her Letters and Journals by Her Son Charles Edward Stowe, available for free via Project Gutenberg
- Harriet Beecher Stowe's brief biography and works
- Women in History
Credits
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