Harriet Beecher Stowe

INTERVIEW WITH HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

Andy Claire Edward: Harriet Beecher Stowe, I would just like to start off this interview by acknowledging your outstanding work. You are an excellent author and talented writer. It is a pleasure to be allowed to interview you. Furthermore, where were you born and what was your family like?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: I was born June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut, to Roxanna and Lyman Beecher. My father is a Congregationalist Minister, and my mother passed when I was the age of four. My father had eight children with my mother, Roxanna. However, when my father re-married, three more children came along with my step-mother, Harriet Porter Beecher. We were a large and happy family which included two parents and my ten other siblings- Catherine Esther Beecher, William Henry Beecher, Edward Beecher, Mary Foote Beecher Perkins, George Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Beecher, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker, Thomas Kinnicut Beecher, and James Chaplin Beecher. All seven of my brothers became ministers. Catherine, who is the oldest, established education for women and Isabella, who is the youngest out of all of us, was the founder of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. There is a lot of success throughout our family.

My father enforced education and religion in all of us. He also had a strong devotion to God which rubbed off on us. His devotion influenced most of my writings. When my mother passed, my oldest sister, Catherine, stepped in and was a mother figure towards me. She was there for me throughout all of my troubles as a child. I was educated and afterward taught at the Hartford Female Academy which was founded by my sister, Catherine. At the early age of seven, I discovered my talent as a writer. The first contest I won was for my writing. I won a contest for the school essay. I earned a lot of praise from my father. He was extremely proud of me.

Andy Claire Edward: Well! It seems as if you were surrounded by talent. What events in your early life made you to get interested in writing?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: There really aren’t any specific events in my early life that allowed me to focus on writing. However, during school, I developed a great love for poetry. As I stated before, I won my first writing contest at the age of seven, and I just escalated from there. I love writing and I feel like writing is the only way any woman’s voice is going to be heard in these times. Also, writing is just how I express myself and beliefs. That’s why the majority of what I write about expresses my beliefs on why I think people should go against slavery. My writing is my voice.

Andy Claire Edward: That’s very interesting. What role did mentors play in helping you develop the interests and talents you have as an artist?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Attending my sisters’ school introduced me to all types of writing, which I found interesting. I soon engaged in writing and found that it was for me. I loved poetry then and I still love it now.

As I’ve stated before, my fathers’ devotion to God influenced most of my writing. Also winning a contest when I was seven led me to believe that I could prosper as a writer if I kept practicing at it.

Andy Claire Edward: What was the world of art like in your particular art field when you entered it?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: When I entered the art field, there weren’t a lot of female writers or authors. I would think that was because woman aren’t really considered as important as men. However, that was a great opportunity for me because that left me with not a lot of competition.

Andy Claire Edwards: How did the major cultural situations in the late 1800’s impact your work? How did the economic and political events affect it?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: I was an author in a time known to history as imperialism. Imperialism began in the late 1800’s. If you didn’t know, imperialism is a way in which a country has control over another country which is sometimes achieved by force. During imperialism, there were multiple events taking place. For an example: America was persuading other countries to have an organized government. There were also laws passed that segregated against African American descent, known as the Jim Crow laws. I had a very hard time dealing with these laws because I hated slavery. With all of my hatred towards slavery, I used my writing to speak out against it. That’s how I came about as to writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

There were multiple economic events that occurred during imperialism. One was that the USA was exporting many new goods which allowed our country to gain more ports in different countries. Because of this, the USA had rapid growths, economically. Many people gained wealth due to this event, including myself. This affected me because I was blessed by God to be able to financially support myself and family, so we could live comfortably. Also people could now afford to read my work, which resulted in more people acknowledging how slavery was wrong.

Andy Claire Edwards: I see! Slavery really influenced your work. Furthermore, what were your accomplishments and methods you used in your art?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: My major accomplishment, and what I’m currently known for, was being able to publish Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This book is based off of slavery. It was a best seller in the United States, Britain, Europe, Asia, and was translated into over sixty languages. In this book, I e

Writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin brought me not only financial security, but it enabled me to write full time. I was blessed enough to be able to write multiple pieces per year. The methods I used were to write about the truth and what was real. Slavery was a real event and people needed to know the truth about what was happening.

Andy Claire Edwards: I agree. However, what were the key opportunities you had that led to turning points in your life and art?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Attending school was a great opportunity that I used in my life to prosper in my art. Ever since I won that contest when I was seven, as I’ve stated before, I just escalated from there. Also, the death of my child, Samuel, was an extra push to compose my novel. From June 1851 to April 1852, my series of fictional sketches of slaves were first published in the anti-slavery newspaper The National Era. It was later collected into a book form.

Because of my fame, I was exposed to open doors to the national literary magazines. The Atlantic Monthly was where I started to publish my writings. Later on, I also published my pieces in the Independent and in the Christian Union. I published many pieces like novels, studies of social life, essays and small volumes of religious poems. I’ve written over ten adult novels, but, as I’ve stated before, I’m known for Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Andy Claire Edwards: Where there any hardships or road blocks you had to overcome in order to be an artist? If so, what where they?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: I had very few hardships during my career, however some did occur. One hardship took place in 1870. In 1869, I again toured Europe to renew an earlier friendship with Lord Byron’s’ widow. This resulted in me publishing Lady Byron Vindicated in 1870, which exposed him in his sexual affairs with his sister. He was deceased at the time when in charged him with violation of marriage vows. However, because Byron was a legend by this time, things back fired on me, which resulted in me losing the majority of my loyal British audience. I was undisturbed by it and continued to write my series of novels, poems, sketches, and my autobiography.

Other than this incident, I didn’t really have many road blocks. However, there were hardships in my life that put a tole on my heart. The death of my son, Charley, really disturbed me. He died as an infant to cholera. His death really was a tragedy, but as the years went by, it gave me that extra push to succeed in my career.

Andy Claire Edwards: Who are people that you admire both in the arts and beyond. Why do they inspire you?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: The people that I admire and that inspire me are my father, my sister Catherine, and my husband. All three of them pushed me to strive for the best. They all pushed me to write. I admire my father because he was a man that stood for what’s right. As I’ve stated before, he was a minister that spoke out against slavery. He also stood by God throughout all his troubles. I admire my sister, Catherine, because she fought hard to be able to start her own school just for females. She fought and made sure that females were getting a good enough education so they could prosper in life just as did.

I admire my husband, Calvin, because he was always there for me. It was with him that I encountered first-hand slavery, while living in Cincinnati, Ohio. He helped me in many ways. My husband was active in the public education system and often traveled for work. However, he was always very supportive of my literary career and helped me in anything he could.

Andy Claire Edwards: That’s nice. What personal stories best illustrate how you became successful in the arts?

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Well, as I’ve stated before, winning a writing contest when I was seven really gave me a lot of confidence in myself as a young writer. Being published at such a young age really made me think about my career as a writer. Being exposed to many genres of writing interested me. I found certain things more interesting than others, but I still loved them all.

When I was younger, my father held debates at the dinner table while we ate. This helped me by having the skills of expressing myself in an appropriate way. Debates also helped me to understand both sides of the story. They also helped me to respond back in a way in which I’m getting my point across. Those debates helped me tremendously in my work.

Work Cites

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Similarities, Differences, Judgments

Monday, April 23, 2012

Interview

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Friday, April 13, 2012