The Scrapbook of American Slavery

by Andy Hall

In 1862, the author Harriet Beecher Stowe visited the White House. When she was introduced to Abraham Lincoln, the six-foot-four president is supposed to have looked over his diminutive guest and asked, with a wry smile, "so this is the little lady who made this big war?"

This remark, part of Stowe's family lore, may be apocryphal. What is unquestionably true is that her most famous work, Uncle Tom's Cabin, ignited a storm of controversy over its portrayal of slavery in the South when it was published in 1852. It strengthened the resolve of abolitionists, outraged Southerners who believed the novel depicted the "peculiar institution" in an unfair light, and introduced millions of Americans to the ugly particulars of a practice that they'd had little direct knowledge of. There are few novels in American history that have served as drivers of that history to the degree that has Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Among other things, Stowe was accused of having exaggerated, or outright lied, about many of the scenes and events she described in the novel. In response to her critics, the following year Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (subtitle: Presenting the Original Facts and Documents Upon Which the Story is Founded Together with Corroborative Statements Verifying the Truth of the Work). In Key, Stowe provides a 260-page discussion of the models for her characters, trial transcripts, letters, and page after page after page of news items -- editorials, legal notices and advertisements -- that form the factual background upon which she hangs a fictional tale. It is a remarkable book, one that deserves to be better known.

So I will close my week of guest-blogging with link to Stowe's A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, and encourage you all to spend some time with this remarkable reference on American slavery at the middle of the nineteenth century. Doesn't matter where you start, or where you end. It's not a fun read, but a worthwhile one.

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Thanks you, TNC, for giving me the opportunity to participate. It's an honor to be invited, and a bigger honor to be invited back. Thanks to KewHall, who made the key discoveries that pulled the threads of George Hatton's story together in a coherent way. And most important, thanks to all of you who took time to comment. This blog is a wonderful place because you all make it so.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. He is the author of The Beautiful Struggle, Between the World and Me, and We Were Eight Years in Power.

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