Harriet Beecher was born June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. Her father was a religious leader, and all seven of her brothers grew up to be ministers. Her sister Catharine was an author and teacher who helped shape her social views. Harriet attended Catharine’s school and received an education typically reserved for male students.

At 21, Harriet moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father took a strong abolitionist position after the pro-slavery Cincinnati Riots of 1836. His anti-slavery stance reinforced the beliefs of all of his children, including Harriet. She met and married Calvin Stowe, a seminary teacher and fellow abolitionist.

When Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, Stowe chose to express her feelings through a literary representation of slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin first appeared in the National Era in 1851, but was published as a book the next year and became a bestseller. The emotional portrayal of slavery and its impact on families and children quickly divided the nation, as it was embraced by the North and opposed in the South. A popular, though unverified, story claims Abraham Lincoln greeted Harriet Beecher Stowe during the Civil War with the words, “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”

Though most famously known for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe continued to write and champion causes for the rest of her life. Though none of her later works matched the popularity of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she published stories, essays, textbooks, and many novels. She was well-known and respected in the North, often being asked to share her opinion on political issues.

Harriet Beecher Stowe died in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 1, 1896, at age 85. There are many landmarks across the eastern United States dedicated to her memory, including several Harriet Beecher Stowe Houses in Brunswick, Maine, Hartford, Connecticut, and Cincinnati, Ohio.