SPRINGTOWN — For Black History Month, the Springtown Legend’s Museum has on display two first edition copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin from 1854. The famous book was first originally published in 1852.
Museum Coordinator Amy Hedges received these copies from Ronald Steinfels who had them in the Civil War Museum in White Settlement, which closed in October 2024.
These books will be displayed in the back room of the museum next to other Black History Month exhibits.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an author, abolitionist and advocate against slavery. The book is about a character named Uncle Tom, who was a long-suffering black slave and whom the other characters’ stories revolve around.
Stowe’s goal writing and publishing the book was to educate Americans on the horrors of what was happening in the South in terms of slavery. The book’s emotional portrayal of the horrific effects of slavery captured America’s attention and even the attention of President Abraham Lincoln who said to Stowe, “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”
The picture found on page 238 states, “The fugitives are safe in a free land.”
