Today in 1851, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was first published in The National Era newspaper.
It continued to run in the newspaper for the next 11 months, a few chapters at a time, helping people understand the evil of slavery until the columns were collected and published in book form on March 20, 1852. (Here’s a link to get a copy from Project Gutenberg.)
Once Stowe’s story was published as a book it helped the antislavery movement ramp up. It sold very well throughout the country, with reports of it selling 50,000 copies in the first six weeks. (If you are into stories from the history of publishing here is a amazingly detailed account of what it took to bring this book to print.)
This a great historical account of the power of books. One we need to remember here in Alabama, because in 1856, the South’s largest bookstore was in Mobile, Alabama…
Strickland & Co., had been in business at the corner of Dauphin Street and Water Street for many years when the local Vigilance Committee (a legal group of locals charged with squashing antislavery efforts) nabbed the bookshop’s two owners and drilled them about their books.
It turns out they were guilty of selling a single copy of Frederick Douglass’ Autographs of Freedom as well as having had 50 copies of Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin on hand. The booksellers were told they were “…“dangerous to the community” and that, unless they and their families left within five days, their safety could not be guaranteed.” There is a good write-up with even more details here in The Mobile Bay magazine. The Vigilance Committee was publicly praised by government officials and local media for running the booksellers out of town and closing down the bookstore.
It was gross. We should all be embarrassed by this incident. But, sadly, it’s not too far from where we are these days with Alabama voting districts being redrawn and funding being pulled from Alabama libraries over book banning.
It is gross, and we should all be embarrassed.
All that to say if you are around the Birmingham, AL area, then check out the Read Freely Alabama group and keep up with the events and news they share. It’s important.
*Also, buy books. Read physical books. Have them at home. Digital books are fine (I did link to Project Gutenberg earlier). It’s just that digital media be deleted/changed/tracked in a way that a printed book cannot. It’s happened before (most famously in 2009) and just like the attack on that Mobile bookstore and libraries today, it will happen again. These stories need to be protected and remembered so we can do better.
