Born June 14, 1811
Litchfield, Connecticut
Died July 1, 1896
Hartford, Connecticut

Writer and abolitionist

Author of the best-selling antislavery
novel Uncle Tom's Cabin

"Let the President of the United States proclaim that all men shall hereafter be declared free and equal, and that the [military] service of all shall be accepted, without regard to color."

Harriet Beecher Stowe. (Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)

Harriet Beecher Stowe brought to life the horrors of slavery for people in the Northern United States through her popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her book was one of the first to portray black characters as real people with the same hopes and dreams as whites. It inspired thousands of people in the North to join the fight against slavery, and also increased the tensions between the North and South. As a result, many historians have claimed that Stowe helped cause...