A Writer, an Editor, and America’s Greatest Abolitionist Work

In ‘This Week in History,’ personal tragedy and national compromise motivated an Ohio writer to pen the classic ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’

(Left) Gamaliel Bailey, editor of The National Era, first serialized "Uncle Tom's Cabin," written by (Right) Harriet Beecher Stowe. Public Domain

In 1832, Harriet Beecher and Gamaliel Bailey moved to Cincinnati. Beecher, a teacher and talented writer, arrived in Ohio with her minister father, Lyman, who had accepted the position of president at Lane Theological Seminary. Bailey, a doctor and medical journalist, opened a medical practice in the city and became a lecturer on physiology at the same seminary. Although they shared similar interests and moved in the same social circles, their connection would not take root for nearly two decades.

A sketch of Lane Seminary, later Lane Theological Seminary (Cincinnati, Ohio), as it appeared shortly after opening in 1830. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Public Domain