Uncle Tom's Cabin

These words, said to have been uttered by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, signal the celebrity of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first American novel to become an international best-seller, Stowe's book charts the progress from slavery to freedom of fugitives who escape the chains of American chattel slavery, and of a martyr who transcends all earthly ties. At the middle of the nineteenth century, the names of its characters-Little Eva, Topsy, Uncle Tom—were renowned. A hundred years later 'Uncle Tom' still had meaning, but to Blacks everywhere it had become a curse. This edition firmly locates Uncle Tom's Cabin within the context of African-American writing, and considers issues of race and the role of women. Its Appendices include excerpts from Stowe's compilation of her sources in slave narratives, The Key to 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', as well as Frederick Douglass's story celebrating the victorious leader of a slave revolt, his literary response to Stowe's model of Black martyrdom.