Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Harriet Beecher Stowe" - New World
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[[image:Harriet_Beecher_Stowe.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Harriet Beecher Stowe]] | [[image:Harriet_Beecher_Stowe.jpg|thumb|250px|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. In the book she expresses her moral outrage at the institution of slavery and its destructive effects on both races and especially on maternal bonds. |
Stowe was born into a family with deep religious convictions and a social conscience that would leave a historical legacy in educational reform, the revision of Calvinist theology, abolition, literature, and women’s suffrage. | Stowe was born into a family with deep religious convictions and a social conscience that would leave a historical legacy in educational reform, the revision of Calvinist theology, abolition, literature, and women’s suffrage. | ||
| − | 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. Her realistic style and her narrative use of local dialect predated works like [[Mark Twain]]'s ''Huckleberry Finn'' by 30 years. |
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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. | 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]]. | + | 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. | 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''. | 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''. | ||
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Catherine and Harriet founded a new seminary in Cincinnati, the Western Female Institute and together they wrote a children's geography book. | Catherine and Harriet founded a new seminary in Cincinnati, the Western Female Institute and together they wrote a children's geography book. | ||
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==Writing career== | ==Writing career== | ||
| − | In | + | In 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. |
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| + | In 1834 Stowe began her literary career when she won a prize contest of the ''Western Monthly Magazine'', and soon she was a regular contributor of stories and essays. Her first book, ''The Mayflower'', appeared in 1843. | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Image:Harriet Beecher Stowe - Project Gutenberg eText 16786.jpg|thumb|Harriet Beecher Stowe]] | ||
| + | While she lived in Cincinnati, Harriet co-authored a book with her sister, ''Primary Geography for Children''. After the publication of this book Stowe 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. | 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. | ||
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"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 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. | ||
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| − | 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, | + | 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]], [[Elizabeth 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 publicly declared her accusation. Both ''The Atlantic Monthly'' and Stowe suffered serious persecution after it was published. |
| − | + | 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. | |
| − | 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 | ||
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| + | 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. | |
== Partial list of works == | == Partial list of works == | ||
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http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/stowe/StoweHB.html | http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/stowe/StoweHB.html | ||
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http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blstowe.htm | http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blstowe.htm | ||
Sept 5 2006 | Sept 5 2006 | ||
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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 | 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 | Aug 31 2006 | ||
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* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hbstowe.htm Brief biography at Kirjasto (Pegasos)] | * [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hbstowe.htm Brief biography at Kirjasto (Pegasos)] | ||
* [http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2001/beecher/intro.htm An American Family: The Beechers] | * [http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2001/beecher/intro.htm An American Family: The Beechers] | ||
| + | * [http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/harriet_beecher_stowe.html Harriet Beecher Stowe Quotes] | ||
* [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=Harriet+Beecher+Stowe&amode=words The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)] | * [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=Harriet+Beecher+Stowe&amode=words The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)] | ||
*{{gutenberg author|id=Harriet_Beecher_Stowe|name=Harriet Beecher Stowe}} | *{{gutenberg author|id=Harriet_Beecher_Stowe|name=Harriet Beecher Stowe}} | ||
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*[http://Stowe.thefreelibrary.com/ Harriet Beecher Stowe's brief biography and works] | *[http://Stowe.thefreelibrary.com/ Harriet Beecher Stowe's brief biography and works] | ||
*[http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/stow-har.htm Women in History] | *[http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/stow-har.htm Women in History] | ||
| + | *[http://englishhistory.net/byron/stowebyron.html Lady Byron Vindicated] | ||
[[Category:History and biography]] | [[Category:History and biography]] | ||
Revision as of 04:51, 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. In the book she expresses her moral outrage at the institution of slavery and its destructive effects on both races and especially on maternal bonds.
Stowe was born into a family with deep religious convictions and a social conscience that would leave a historical legacy in educational reform, the revision of Calvinist theology, abolition, literature, and women’s suffrage.
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. Her realistic style and her narrative use of local dialect predated works like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn by 30 years.
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.
Catherine and Harriet founded a new seminary in Cincinnati, the Western Female Institute and together they wrote a children's geography book.
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
In 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.
In 1834 Stowe began her literary career when she won a prize contest of the Western Monthly Magazine, and soon she was a regular contributor of stories and essays. Her first book, The Mayflower, appeared in 1843.
While she lived in Cincinnati, Harriet co-authored a book with her sister, Primary Geography for Children. After the publication of this book Stowe 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.
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, Elizabeth 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 publicly declared her accusation. Both The Atlantic Monthly and Stowe suffered serious persecution after it was published.
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.
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.
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
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)
- An American Family: The Beechers
- Harriet Beecher Stowe Quotes
- 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
- Lady Byron Vindicated
Credits
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