Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) was an American writer and abolitionist. Born in Connecticut into the prominent Beecher family, she later lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where her proximity to the slave state of Kentucky brought her into contact with the realities of slavery and the experiences of people escaping from it. Against the backdrop of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, she wrote her best-known novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Published in book form in 1852, it became a bestseller in the United States and Britain and had a major impact on public debate over slavery. Through the fate of Tom, who is repeatedly bought and sold, and families threatened with separation, Stowe portrayed how slavery stripped people of their freedom and dignity and tore parents and children apart.
