| Harriet Beecher Stowe, born June 14, 1811, was in her time what Muckrakers like Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair were in their time. Her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1852, exposed the naÔve masses, particularly in the north, to the vile outrages of slavery. The novel became a bestseller in the United States, Europe, and Asia and was published in more than 60 languages. The novel, like the works of the Muckrakers of the early 20th century, humanized the story of slavery by focusing on the hardships of certain individuals. The American Civil War, a conflict between regional views of the North and South, can find some contributing factors in Stowe's vivid details of slavery. It rallied support against slavery and made it an issue that Northerners could no longer ignore. Legend has it that Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe and said "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!" In her stirring of public opinion behind an outrageous abuse, Harriet Beecher Stowe is similar to the Muckraking journalists. |