Uncle Tom's Cabin

• When was UTC released?


  1852
• Who produced UTC?


  Harriet Beecher-Stowe
• Who is the slave within UTC?


  Tom
• How is Tom potrayed?


  As subservient and loyal to his white slave master
• How was the novel seen at the time of its publication?


  It was considered a highly influential anti-slavery novel, whose popularity and political impact made it a significant turning point in race relations
• What did UTC contribute to?


  North-South divisions in the build up to the Civil War, intensifying the horror felt in the North about slavery and sympathy for slaves
• How can UTC's modern relevance be seen?

  Harlem poet Langston Hughes praised it and it appears on school reading lists today
• What did Abraham Lincoln ALLEGEDLY tell Beecher-Stowe


  He told her that she was, 'the woman who started the Civil War'
• Why was UTC a trendsetting publication?

  It was the first novel of its kind to address the growing anti-slavery feeling as well as the first to humanise the experience of slavery
• What did UTC help to create?


  It helped to spawn later pro-black viewpoints
• How was the term, 'Uncle Tom' morphed in the 1900s?


  It was used as someone who is passive and weak with Malcolm X using the term to describe MLK
• Why does the representation of black Americans not remain as relevant today?

  The potrayal of black Amerians as passive recipients of violence particularly displeased the Black Power movement of the 1960s and arguably holds less relevance in a post-emancipation society
• How did the representation of Tom change?


  In subsequent depictions, Tom changed from a Christ-like figure into a dependant, older man which shows the influence of public opinion on the message of the novel
• Why might the text's geography limit it?

  The text was primarly aimed at the South, being set in the 'Old South' and directed at them, so its impact within the North may have been more limited
• How many copies did it sell within its first year?

  300,000
• How many copies did UTC sell within 10 years?


  2 million
• How did Southern attitudes shift from antibellum to postbellum?


  From the idea of fear to resentment
• How many copies did UTC sell in its first two weeks?


  10,000
• What is an example of a Northern criticism of UTC?


  The Planter (1853) by David Brown denounced the characters of UTC as 'entirely against Southern culture'
• How did some Southerns counter Stowe's writing?


  Through anecdotes which proved the treatment of slaves as ethical
• What is an example of a Southern anecdote?

  Little Rock Newspaper, 'True Democrat' which told ths story of a runaway slave who found slavery better than freedom and so returned
• What was slavery presented as?


  A 'Moral institution'
• What did some counter works attempt to do?


  Capture a Southern view of slavery in order to bring it to a greater audience
• What was often compared?

  The happiness of Southern slaves to the misery of freemen in the North
• What was published as a notable counter to UTC?


  'Aunt Phillis' Cabin' published in the Charles Courier
• How many copies did 'Aunt Phillis' Cabin' sell?


  20-30,000 copies
• What was another aspect of Stowe which Southerners criticised?

  Her gender, with the 'State Gazette and Democrat' using a long list of insults about her body to vilify her
• What view was commonly held in the South regarding gender?


  Women were expected to remain subservient and passive
• What was another type of criticism used by Southerners?

  That the profit Stowe gained from her sales were not used to benefit the cause she fought for
• How many more copies of UTC were published between 1870 - 1917?


  Over 200,000
• Why was the novel despised post-war?


  It was seen as a symbol of Northern victory and the end to the Southern slave society
• How did some articles further criticise Stowe?


  'The Macan' used Stowe's declining health as a reason to question the validity of the novel, also blamed her for depicting the south as 'evil'
• What was the continued success of UTC seen as?


  An attack on Southern socities, some communities seeked to ban the book in any form
• How successful was the stage version of UTC?


  It was one of the most popular in the US for decades post-war and was regularly performed in the South
• How was the reaction to a scheduled performance of UTC?


  In Lexington, Kentucky in 1902, the performance was met with protest from the United Daughters of the Confederacy
• What happened to actors and productions in the South?


  Actors in plays were attacked such as in 1881 alone where several incidents of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes/eggs occured
• What was the reasoning used in the South throughout the period in order to counter the representation of slavery in UTC?


  Slavery was a benevolent instutition due to slaves being well-dressed and fed and thus happy and content with their lives in bondage
• What was a book which claimed to counter Stowe with only facts?

  'The old Plantation' by James Arirett which used childhood experiences and so claimed slavery as positive
• What depicted Tom as violent?


  'Uncle Tom's Tenement' depicted Tom a someone who beat his wife and kids to illustrate Northern society as violent and hurtful for those at the bottom
• How did Lovett describe UTC?


  as an 'abolitionist conspiracy to disrupt Southern society'