Thursday, September 22, 2011
The Book For Everyone
Slavery is sometimes rightly referred to as a scourge on America’s history. The good news is that although the atrocious practice of human slavery is still practiced throughout the world, it is no longer legal in America. Its back was broken in our nation and both slaves and masters learned how to create a better, free world.
One of the books that was highly influential in getting people to think differently about slavery in America was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a minister’s daughter who was born in Connecticut. 10,000 copies sold in the first week and 300,000 in the first year. It was eventually translated into 37 languages.
In his introduction to the book Alfred Kazin described Stowe’s passion as: “A moral passion that in the book is the most powerful antagonist of slavery and one that so worked on people’s feelings from 1852 to the end of the Civil War that no other single book can be said to have contributed so much to the end of slavery.” But Kazin said something else concerning the book and its role in the civil rights movement that stood out like a sore thumb. He said, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin is one of the most famous books in the world. It is so famous that people are capable of describing someone as an ‘Uncle Tom’ or a ‘Simon Legree,’ even of snickering at the death of ‘Little Eva,’ without altogether remembering that they have, in fact, never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Why would people like the idea of freeing slaves but not take time to read one of the most influential books on the subject? Here’s one possibility: During 60s many good people wanted to address equal rights, but some were also buying into poisonous notions that were surfacing in our country -- such as the one expressed in the preposterous statement “God is dead.” I have a sneaking suspicion that people were not encouraged to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin because some activists were willing to confess the evils of slavery but they were not willing to recognize what Stowe emphasized(i.e. the Bible had the power to transform both the slaves and their masters). Her book underscores the role Christianity had in breaking slavery. She shows how some Christians didn’t get it, but that those who were willing to be Biblical Christians became agents of change and helped to break the hold slavery had on America.
Everyone owes it to themselves to read Stowe’s masterpiece. They will be moved by Uncle Tom who was symbolic of Jesus Christ who rose above evil in the world by loving his persecutors. Her book demonstrates how the power of true love and true Christianity can change lives. I would contend that the power of her book was sourced in the power of the Book that was so precious to Uncle Tom – The Holy Bible. The Bible is a book that can teach the oppressor as well as the oppressed. It is a book for everyone, and it will can change your world and make you free!
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