Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

A writer, abolitionist, and humanitarian, Harriet Beecher received a traditionally male education at the Hartford Female Seminary, run by her sister Catharine Beecher. In 1836 Harriet married one of her professors, Calvin Stowe. While living in Cincinnati, Ohio, she housed fugitive slaves for the Underground Railroad. Beecher Stowe wrote the groundbreaking Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). The first American novel with an African-American as its hero, it dramatized the barbarism of slavery to the American public. Three hundred thousand copies sold in the first year alone.