My Words, My Story: A Black History Month Celebration

The Stowe Center celebrates Black History Month and remembers the remarkable people who inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe and her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Josiah Henson

A historical sepia toned image of an older African American man with a white beard and a dressy suit. Nineteenth century. — Josiah Henson (1789-1883)

Josiah Henson (1789-1883) was an author, abolitionist, and minister. Born enslaved in Maryland, he and his family walked over 600 miles to freedom in Ontario, Canada and founded the Dawn settlement with other freedom seekers. Henson’s 1849 autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, inspired the character of Uncle Tom in Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Josiah returned to the U.S. to lead over 118 people out of enslavement on the Underground Railroad. Using the “Uncle Tom” name, Henson gave speeches to raise funds supporting Black refugees.

Frederick Douglass

A historical sepia toned image of an older African American man, angled to the left, with black and white hair, a full mustache, and a dressy suit. Nineteenth century. — Frederick Douglass (1817/18-1895)

Frederick Douglass (1817/18-1895) was the internationally famous Black social activist of the 19^th century. Self-emancipating as a young man, he worked as a newspaper editor, orator, and author, publishing the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) and My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Douglass asking for his help providing a first-hand account of enslaved life on a cotton plantation. Douglass worked for racial equality after emancipation, advocating for the 15^th Amendment giving Black men the right to vote, continued access to the ballot and education desegregation.

Harriet Jacobs

A historical sepia toned portrait of a woman sitting in a high backed chair, with a gentle smile on her face and both hands folded in her lap. Nineteenth century. — Gilbert Studios photograph of Harriet Jacobs, 1894. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Harriet Jacobs (1813/15-1897) was born enslaved in North Carolina and self-emancipated in 1842. She had hid alone in a crawl space for 7 years to save her children from her enslaver. Jacobs proposed to tell her experiences to Harriet Beecher Stowe so Stowe could transform it into a book to further the anti-slavery cause. Instead Stowe asked to use portions of Jacobs’ narrative in her Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853). Jacobs’ landmark Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861) was edited by abolitionist Lydia Maria Child and self-published. The narrative is a harsh expose of sexual abuse inflicted on enslaved women. Jacobs used her celebrity to raise funds for formerly enslaved people.

Sojourner Truth

A historical sepia toned photo portrait of an older African American woman sitting beside a small round table, with a work of knitting in her lap, dressed in period clothing. A quote at the bottom of the photo: "I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance".Nineteenth century. — Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was an abolitionist, civil and women’s rights advocate, and minister. Seeking freedom with her baby daughter in 1827, Truth ran to an abolitionist family in New York who bought her freedom. An itinerant preacher, she met Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison who encouraged her to speak publicly for abolition. Truth dictated her autobiography, Narrative of Sojourner Truth (1850) to a friend and lived off the book sales and recognition. She gave her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech that challenged race and gender inequality in 1851. Truth met Stowe and shared her story which Stowe published in the Atlantic Monthly as “Sojourner Truth, The Libyan Sibyl.” Truth worked tirelessly supporting Black Union troops during the Civil War and with the Freedmen’s Bureau helping formerly enslaved people to rebuild.

John Andrew Jackson

A historical narrative illustration in sepia tone of an African American man riding a horse hard, holding onto his hat with his right hand, and looking over his left shoulder. Nineteenth century. — Broadside detail of John Andrew Jackson, c. 1865-1872. Catalog Record #208307. Courtesy the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA

John Andrew Jackson (1825-c. 1895) was an abolitionist who self-emancipated in 1846. He fled to Boston and settled in Salem, Massachusetts where he worked to raise funds to purchase his family’s freedom. Jackson knew he was no longer safe after the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and escaped to Canada. Along the way he knocked on Stowe’s door in Brunswick, Maine and stayed the night. Stowe later wrote Jackson a letter of introduction which he used to book speaking engagements while living in England. His autobiography, The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina, was published in 1862. Jackson and his family returned to U.S. after the Civil War and worked for Black equality in South Carolina, his home state.

For a deeper exploration into the historical influences of Harriet Beecher Stowe, please visit the Stowe Center. You can call our Visitor Center (860.522.9258) to schedule your tour of Harriet’s home or dig in to the Research and Collections at research@stowecenter.org.

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.