[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING HARRIET BEECHER STOWE ON HER BICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 13, 2011

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this month marks the bicentennial 
anniversary of the birth of one of our nation's most influential and 
eminent women authors, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and it is with great 
pride that I rise today to join Connecticut's Harriet Beecher Stowe 
Center in recognizing this remarkable milestone as well as celebrate 
this Connecticut daughter's life and distinguished career.
  Harriet Beecher Stowe was the most famous American woman of the 19th 
century and what earned her that status was her best-selling, anti-
slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. What you may not know is that she made 
her home in Hartford, Connecticut, and with neighbors including Mark 
Twain, Isabella Beecher, Joseph Hawley, Charles Dudley Warner, and 
William Gillette, Stowe lived and worked in what was one of the 
nation's preeminent literary communities.
  Uncle Tom's Cabin was and still is an extraordinary story. Through 
its pages, Stowe brought humanity to slavery in the United States and 
catapulted the issue to the forefront of the time's political debate. 
Her informal, conversational style spoke to people, touching them in a 
way that political speeches and newspaper accounts could not. While 
there were many contributing factors to the outbreak of the Civil War, 
it is often said that Uncle Tom's Cabin and the debates that its 
publication sparked helped 19th century Americans determine what kind 
of country they wanted. In fact, it is said that upon meeting Stowe in 
the White House in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln said to her, ``So 
you are the little woman who wrote the book that started the Great 
War.''
  Stowe was a prolific writer and Uncle Tom's Cabin may have been her 
most famous work but it was certainly not her only book. In fact, over 
her lifetime, she wrote more than 30 books and novels. Her broad range 
of interests resulted in such varied publications as children's text 
books, advice books on homemaking and child rearing as well as 
biographies and religious studies. In each of her works, Stowe's unique 
style encouraged discussion among everyday people and those ranged from 
slavery to religious reform to gender roles. Though overshadowed by her 
most famous of works, Stowe's ability to influence public debate on a 
variety of controversial topics and the influence she had on shaping 
public opinion is undeniable.
  Today, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, located in Hartford, 
Connecticut, uses Stowe's life story and work to inspire social justice 
and positive change with programs and initiatives that reach thousands 
across the world. In Connecticut, we are proud to call Harriet Beecher 
Stowe our First Lady of Literature and we could not be more proud to 
celebrate her life, her work, and her invaluable contributions to our 
society. Two hundred years after her birth, Harriet Beecher Stowe's 
life continues to inspire the belief that each of us can make a 
difference in the world--that one person, using their talent and 
determination, can create change.

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