Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Novel That Made a Difference


It first appeared in weekly installments, and then was gathered into two volumes for publication. The author was the daughter of one prominent preacher, and sister of another preacher who was known as one of the most capable orators of his day.  She married a noted Biblical scholar, who helped to establish public education in the United States. Her father once noted that she was so smart, he wished she'd been born a boy, and her brother Henry Ward Beecher had been born a girl.

Both Beecher children outstripped their father's expectations. It was Henry who became even more famous than his father and Harriet who authored Uncle Tom's Cabin. After appearing as a serial the story was popular enough to warrant a first printing of 5,000 copies, then 10,000 and 50,000 more. In the first year, 310,000 copies were sold. Many of them were read aloud to others in book groups, and some estimate that the book was familiar to three million people.

Tom and Little Eva by Edwin Longston Long
The influence of Uncle Tom's Cabin didn't end there. Two playwrights took the story for their own, creating extremely popular versions for the stage. George Aiken's version of Uncle Tom's Cabin was so popular that it changed theater going. The play incorporated song and dance, and so stood alone as an evening's entertainment, instead of being coupled with variety acts as other plays had been. A matinee was added so that children could attend. The play based on Stowe's work was so elevating that even clergy would deign to be seen at the theater.

Stowe set out with at least two tasks in mind: oppose the Fugitive Slave Law, and display the cruelty of slavery to unmask its moral depravity. She seems to have succeeded on both counts. Many Northerners held the common prejudice that blacks were an inferior race, and they were not moved to act against slavery while they held their prejudice intact.  Uncle Tom's Cabin portrayed whites and blacks as equals in their capacities for love and Christian virtues, including sacrifice. Many Northerners were moved to actively oppose slavery after allowing their emotions to be touched by the book's many tender scenes.

The play reached another demographic. Known as 'rough boys', they were laborers, 'shirt sleeve workers.' They attended the play in great numbers, and many were seen to shed tears. They entered the theater as toughs who may have tormented freed blacks in the past, and left as 'rough boys' who felt compassion for the hardships of people held in slavery.*

One book. One woman.  A woman who chose to defy the willingness of many to ignore slavery and its horrors that they might keep their prejudices (and some said, the nation) intact. A woman who sent her husband or brother to the podium in her stead, because public speaking was still considered an unseemly act for a 'good woman.'

One person, acting from firm moral convictions, can change a million hearts.  A mighty lesson for our time when families are shattered by immigration laws, detainees are held without rights, voting rights are being assaulted, and many are struggling for the right to have their love and lives fully recognized through marriage.  A great lesson in a state that seeks to speed up executions to clear more people off of 'death row' more quickly. An important lesson for anyone who hopes to take a position on higher moral ground, and to encourage others to follow. Talk, invite, write...you can share stories that change hearts and minds, too. 

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* All the information about Uncle Tom's Cabin and Harriet Beecher Stowe was gleaned from: Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America by David S. Reynolds. Any mistakes in factual data can be attributed to my faulty memory rather than Professor Reynolds excellent work.  - Robin Gray