The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe

Birth

Jun 4, 1811

"Harriet Beecher Stowe's Life." Harriet Beecher Stowe's Life. Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2015.

Moves to Cincinnati

Mar 20, 1832

In 1832, Lyman Beecher was appointed president of Lane Theological Seminary, and he moved his family to Cincinnati. Photo by Greg Hume

Growing Interest in Anti-Slavery Movement

Mar 20, 1832

Catherine Beecher started a school in Cincinnati, the Western Female Institute, and Harriet became a teacher there. Harriet began writing professionally: first she co-wrote a geography textbook with her sister, Catherine, and then sold several stories.Cincinnati was across the Ohio from Kentucky, a slave state, and Harriet also visited a plantation there and saw slavery for the first time. She also talked with escaped slaves. Her association with anti-slavery activists like Salmon Chase meant th

Marries Calvin Ellis Stowe

Jan 6, 1836

Congress Passes Fugitive Slave Law

Sep 18, 1850

On September 18, 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law, which made it illegal for anyone to help a fugitive slave, thus allowing slave owners to travel far into the Northern free states to reclaim slaves. In 1851, Stowe began a contract with The National Era, an anti-slavery magazine, for a story that would "paint a word picture of slavery," for Northerners who had never witnessed it first-hand, as a way to galvanize them to action against the institution of slavery.

Begins Work on Uncle Tom's Cabin

Mar 2, 1851

Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Mar 20, 1852

Originally published as installments in the anti-slavery magazine, The National Era, the pieces were eventually gathered and published in 1852 as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly,” the first print run was 5,000. Within a year, the book had sold 300,000 copies in America, and over a million in Britain.
"Harriet Beecher Stowe — Uncle Tom's Cabin." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Associati
Uncle Tom's Cabin Book Cover. Digital image. Crisis Magazine, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.

Civil War Begins

Apr 12, 1861

Death

Jul 1, 1896

At the age of 85, Harriet Beecher Stowe dies in her sleep at her home in Hartford, Connecticut. She is buried at the Andover Chapel Cemetery.