Uncle Tom's Cabin

American  

noun

1. an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

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Uncle Tom's Cabin Cultural  

1. (1852) A novel, first published serially, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; it paints a grim picture of life under slavery. The title character is a pious, passive slave, who is eventually beaten to death by the overseer Simon Legree.

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Published shortly before the Civil War, Uncle Tom's Cabin won support for the antislavery cause.

Although Stowe presents Uncle Tom as a virtuous man, the expression “Uncle Tom” is often used as a term of reproach for a subservient black person who tolerates discrimination.

Example Sentences

Montgomery buys home that inspired novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

From Washington Post • Feb. 25, 2022

Anti-slavery activists sang Foster's music, and theater troupes inserted "My Old Kentucky Home" into theatrical productions of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

From Salon • May 1, 2021

Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin fired up the abolitionist movement.

From The Guardian • Aug. 24, 2019

Plus, a novel that featured “Amazing Grace” and helped popularize it, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

From Slate • Apr. 19, 2018

Harriet Beecher Stowe, the renowned best-selling American author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, offered to write for Stanton, but only if the paper would consider a less provocative name.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling