Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers

by Jean Fritz

Harriet Beecher Stowe grew up in a family in which her seven brothers were expected to be successful preachers and the four girls were never to speak in public. But slavery made Harriet so angry she couldn't keep quiet.

Although she used a pen rather than her voice to convince people of the evils of slavery, she became more famous than any of her brothers. She firmly believed that words could make change, and by writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe hastened the Civil War and changed the course of America history.

"Readable and engrossing." -- The Horn Bookn"Fritz writes with verve and wit....Many kids will be stimulated to go on from here to find out more." -- Booklist (boxed review)

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Historical

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Jean Guttery Fritz was an American children's writer best known for American biography and history. She won the Children's Legacy Literature Award for her career contribution to American children's literature in 1986. She turned 100 in November 2015 and died in May 2017 at the age of 101.

Reviews

[Celestia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so inspiring. What pluck and determination Harriet had. I feel more inspired by Harriet's example to become a writer. Fritz has a gift for telling stories and getting to the essence of the story.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who has read Uncle Tom’s Cabin or even learned about the novel’s role in inspiring feelings which brought on the Civil War, this book brings to life the little lady that wrote such an influential book.

I always find it fascinating to read about the childhood of individuals that have changed history. The influence of the parents, in this case the father, was so important. Even though he was overly severe all of his children followed in his footsteps by wanting to influence others. One small incident may remain in the memory and burn there to produce a character. When Harriet’s essay was read aloud at a public meeting, her father was so proud that he said he would have given a hundred dollars if she had been a boy. She said this was the happiest moment of her childhood. She struggled all her life to find a way to influence others as a man could and later used her writing to accomplish that goal.

The book not only focuses on Harriet Beecher Stowe but on the legacy which the whole Beecher family gave to this time period. Although today we are not as familiar with her father, Lyman Beecher was the most famous preacher in America at the time. Her brothers carried on the legacy became preachers and were also very influential in their time. Their prominence was an influence on her and challenged Harriet to affect change as they did. Since she wasn’t allowed as a woman to preach, she found other means to get her message across.

I find the struggle of being a woman and contributing to society in general, not just within the walls of the home, an interesting dilemma. There were so many restrictions placed on women at the time. They couldn’t speak in public, not just over the pulpit but in other venues. They had to juggle with pregnancy, raising the children and running a household to find the time to do anything outside the home. When her husband didn’t provide enough income, Harriet had to find ways to help support them in acceptable ways for a woman, from running schools, to taking in boarders, to writing short stories. Without some encouragement from her husband and family, she would not have been able to write her book.

Sometimes we look at the past and don’t realize that those people also had psychological struggles with depression and mental ailments much the same as we do today. This aspect was revealed which is many times hidden as unmentionable in the past. How they dealt with these struggles was fascinating to me.

Jean Fritz again has brought to life an important character from history with such clarity. I really learned to appreciate the time period and difficulties that were all a part of the coming forth of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This is an amazing book.

[Bhg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of Fritz. She is an admirer of Rousseau's notion that morality is rooted in neither reason or revelation but in the natural feeling of compassion. Fritz's claim that Harriet's compassion is the primary motivation in writing Uncle Tom's Cabin's doesn't jibe with the Know-Nothing views she absorbed at her father's knees. Ignoring those views don't mean they exist.

Who can admire a writer who writes such anthropopathistic nonsense: "But now the country itself took a hand in determining the future of Harriet Beecher." It gets worse. Instead of explaining what actually happened (A group of Know-Nothings worried about German Catholic immigration to the Midwest, donated money to begin Lane Theological Seminary and needed a star to fire up the troops - Lyman Beecher). Fritz writes "The West was opening up, and clearly the character of the United States would be affected." It's fair to conclude that Fritz shares Lyman Beecher's opinion that America's character would be adversely affected by Catholicism.

Lyman Beecher returned from terrorizing poor German Catholic immigrants in 1834 terrorize Catholics in the Boston-area. His incendiary 3 speeches on August 9, 1834 provoked a two day riot. It began with the burning of the Ursuline Convent/Academy in Charlestown, MA. For decades, destruction to Catholic Church property made them impossible to insure - throughout New England. Given that unpleasant incident Fritz is either ignorant or deliberately insensitive (could she have a bizarre sense of humor?) or she'd have refrained from using the word scorch as in" "Lyman's scorching blood rose. He wanted a share in shaping the West." "The moral destiny of our nation," he said, "turns on the character of the West." Fritz fails to include Lyman's vision that he was in Cincinnati to "battle the Pope for the garden spot of the world."

What affect did being raised by 19th cenury's equivalent of the Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan have on his children? As rigidly as any Victorian, Fritz refuses to even acknowledge the elephant in the room and blames the father's Calvinism, sexism, and bouts of depression produced one son's sex scandal, two suicides, and various other patholigies in the children but since they were involved in the issues of their day it's all well and good.

If you want your children to learn real history - as opposed to anachronistic morality tales - this is a book to avoid. It's said because Fritz is a talented writer. Think what she could do with a rational philosophy of history!

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is part of the Beautiful Feet curriculum, and I've enjoyed many other Jean Fritz books. I appreciated reading it, but it's not one I'm aching for my girls to read. There's a cynical or negative thread throughout regarding faith and motherhood-- two things that are especially treasured in our family.
I am floored to learn of all the literary and historically significant greats with whom she rubbed shoulders--Twain, Browning, Sojourner Truth, Lincoln, Longfellow.

My favorite quote of the book is Longfellow's response to Uncle Tom's Cabin. He wrote in his journal, "At one step she has reached the top of the staircase up which the rest of us climb on our knees year after year." Powerful praise for a powerful piece of literature.

[Marissa Gunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harriet Beecher Stowe was raised in a family where her seven brothers were expected to be preachers and the girls were not allowed to speak in public. Slavery made Harriet very upset, and she believed that words could change things. By writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe has impacted history. I thought this book was pretty good. It helped me to learn things about Harriet Beecher Stowe that I had never known before.

[Dena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never known much about this woman and this biography was so well written it was nearly like reading a novel. I wouldn't mind finding others that she's written. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a fascinating woman of her time who tried to balance being a godly wife and mother with feeling called to speak out in love against slavery.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because my daughter is doing a history project on a historical figure from the Civil War period. I don't think she could have picked a better subject. The book is written for teens and is fabulous -- not condescending or over-simplified. Wish I had had such books when I was in Jr. High.

I plan to read other books on Stowe after this; a great introduction!

[Dexter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting, and it does make me understand the Civil War era much more than I used to, but seeing as I don't really like Harriet Beecher Stowe, I didn't really enjoy Harriet Beecher Stoe And The Beecher Preachers.

But well written and very informative, so it's not bad.

[Analee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a young adult or middle school book but it was just what I needed to get a general view of Harriet and her family. It didn't gloss over the depression of family members and included the suicide of two of her brothers.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was nothing special, but it was very informative and served its purpose to me.

[Andrea M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short but powerful biography. I would recommend it for young people above the age of 12, however, because two of Harriet's family members commit suicide and one description is particularly poignant.

Harriet came from a Puritan culture where women were expected to be subservient. However, she had a gift for words and a husband whose occupation did not provide enough income. Harriet and her family were not abolitionists but she heard stories and remembered the details.

Her book Uncle Tom's Cabin was intended to convince Southerners that slavery was bad but it only angered the South. She even wrote a "key" to the book in which she cited all her sources because Southerners criticized her book as impossibly inaccurate. However, among other readers, it had the intended effect. Indeed Abraham Lincoln commented when he met her, "so this is the little lady who made this big war?"

The Civil War from her perspective and other areas where we know her opinion is fascinating. In one influential family, everyone had a different opinion. This is also interesting. This book is inspiring in lots of ways.

[Alessa Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a captivating story about the life of Harriet Beecher, who ached for her father's acceptance and warmth. Although she was timid and never felt the need to speak, that would not stop her from employing her voice against slavery.

Through a time of unforeseen trouble in America due to the arrangement of slavery, Harriet's brother, husband, and sister-in-law all took action to see her grasp her pen to make a difference in history. While she didn't vocalize her opinion, she still shifted people's perspective, which closed the doors of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Harriet's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," played a huge role in displaying her life. Two of her siblings committed suicide as a consequence of the depression the whole family dealt with. When all hope felt lost, Henry Ward Beecher, a well-known preacher in New England, saw Harriet's desire and devotion, which made her honor of Europe and the administrator of America in the late 19th century.

[Hope Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for my history class. This book was very nice well written and definitely very inspiring! Harriet Beecher Stowe went through so many rough spots and challenges in her life but did so many things for the good of the country. Also reading about all her writings was very inspiring since I am also a writer. (: At the very end, there were a couple of paragraphs that told in more detail about each of her family members and sort of summarized all of their lives which I definitely found very helpful and enjoyable. Definitely a very good read, 7/10 recommend!

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I have never read anything about her life until now. She came from a very large family. She had seven brothers and 3 sisters. Her father was very religious. He favored his sons and expected them all to be pastors and his daughters were expected to remain in the background unheard. Harriet was against slavery and she spoke out strongly against it. This is depicted in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in grade school a favorite historical fiction series was Landmark books aimed primarily at 3 and 4th graders. Only the historical fiction connects Fritz's writing with Landmark. Fritz has a great sense of history and presents it well to today's 5 to 8 graders, as well as historically minded adults.

[Aisley Faust · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was such a great and inspirational book about a lady who hated slavery and decided to something about it with the thing she was best, at writing. She wrote multiple books with slaves as the heroes ad conquerors. One of her books is called Uncle Toms Cabin. Uncle Toms cabin is on my to-read list now!

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read in a little library between spin classes.
It was informative, I liked the photos and I learned something, but I'm not a fan of the biographical writing style where the writer uses weasel words to impute feeling to the subject, like "I'm sure she..." or "given the political climate, she could've felt the same way", with no evidence to back it.

[Jerrianne Hayslett · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining read chock full of little known (at least to me) information and details.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

so disappointing! too many stories! i think Fritz just told the story, not showed it....

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet beecher Stowe has always intrigued me since 8 first read about her in the ten girls that....series my aunt gave me when I was nine. Shes one of my historical heroes

[L M Beaupre Scorgie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The power of words!

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing how her daughter and she can have the same name: Harriet Beecher Stowe.