Abolitionism in America

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Josiah Henson. “Uncle Tom's Story of His Life”: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom”) from 1789-1876. London: “Christian Age” Office, 1876.
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Lewis George Clark. Letter to Mr. Roland. February 18, 1892.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe. Letter to Mr. Robb. March 27, 1893.

The Real Uncle Tom?
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According to an editorial note by John Lobb, Stowe read Henson’s story in 1849 and later met him and the “real” George Harris. Their stories served as the source material for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Some critics dispute this claim, declaring that Stowe wrote her own story before she read Henson’s.

In his letter to a Mr. Roland, Lewis George Clark, who claims to be the “real” George Harris of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, gives a detailed account of incidents that he says inspired situations in Stowe’s book, and cites conversations he had with Stowe before and after the book was published.

Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin

Stowe’s 1893 letter to a Mr. Robb denies the claim that Lewis George Clark was the real George Harris. She writes, “I never saw the man and don’t remember ever to have even heard of him . . . one thing certainly is true—the man was not in my mind at the time of writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Neither he, or any other man stood for the character of George Harris….”

Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin

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Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Cornell University Library