Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)
READ: Psalm 9
Harriet Beecher was born the
seventh of eight children who were expected to do something significant in the
world. Her brothers were all ministers, some of the most famous of their time.
One sister was a pioneer for women’s education and another founded the National
Women's Suffrage Association. Harriet had the gift of writing and felt it was her
place to write books.
As a devout Christian and a woman
of patriotism, Harriet felt deep sorrow over slavery in the United States. This
was increased when she married Calvin Stowe, an avid abolitionist of the slave
trade. Together they were involved with the Underground Railroad – a network of
people willing to house slaves who were escaping to freedom. When the Fugitive
Slave Law was enacted in 1850, making it illegal to help slaves on the run,
Harriet could not keep quiet. Bound to her commitment to Christ and certain of
the judgement of God, she wrote what would become one of the most influential
pieces of literature of all time. Uncle
Tom’s Cabin was published in 1852, a story illustrating the life of
African-American slaves. The little novel spread across the nation, awakening
many to the injustice of slavery and causing uproar in the south where slavery
was rampant. The Civil War soon began and when she met President Abraham
Lincoln shortly after, he greeted her saying, “so you are the little woman who
wrote the book that started this great war.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote books
because she loved to write, and she had the gift. It was her career and her
passion. She wrote as ideas came, but when she saw the injustice of slavery so
commonplace in society, she knew she was called to write something of intent.
When describing why she wrote Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, she said: “I wrote what I did
because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the
sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to
Christianity - because as a lover of my county, I trembled at the coming day of
wrath.” Harriet possessed a deep fear of the Lord, knowing that God would
judge her nation for its injustices to the oppressed. She recognized her
Christian duty, that feeling bad was not enough, and she used her pen to speak
for those who had no voice. Her impact was astronomical.
JOURNALING AND PRAYER
1. Where do you feel weak in your faith?
2. Ask God how He wants to grow your faith this summer. What does He want to do in your heart?
3. Thank God for what He has shown you, and pray that it would become a reality in your life.
