Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. Her father, Lyman Beecher, was a famous minister. She taught school in Hartford, but moved to Cincinnati in 1832. There she taught school and socialized in literary circles. Harriet Beecher married Calvin Ellis Stowe, a clergyman and seminary professor, in 1836. He encouraged her to write.

In 1850, the Stowe's moved to Brunswick, Maine, where Calvin Stowe became a professor at Bowdoin College. It was in Brunswick that Harriet wrote her most famous book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly. The book was so popular it was translated into twenty-three languages. In 1853, she published The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which documented slavery as an abusive, inhumane system.

Because of her works against slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe rallied Northern sentiments against Southern slave owners. When President Lincoln met her he said, "So you’re the little lady who started this big war." Harriet Stowe died on July 1, 1896.

Source:

McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack. Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?

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