The Black Fugitive Who Inspired 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and Helped End Slavery in the U.S.

[G_j]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-black-fugitive-who-inspired-uncle-toms-cabin-and-helped-end-slavery-in-the-us-180984817/


New research sheds light on John Andrew Jackson, who sought help from Harriet Beecher Stowe during his escape from bondage

Susanna Ashton, The Conversation

August 5, 2024 7:15 a.m


In or around 1825, John Andrew Jackson was born enslaved on a plantation in South Carolina and trained to spend his life picking cotton.

But instead of living a life of enslavement, he escaped bondage and became an influential antislavery lecturer and writer. He also played a key role in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s celebrated 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which historians have argued helped trigger the Civil War through its depiction of the subhuman treatment afforded to Black men and women

As a scholar of the lives of enslaved people and their writings, I have researched Jackson for years and still remain puzzled by his obscurity from most histories of slavery in America. In my new biography of Jackson, A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I detail his remarkable life.

North to freedom
In 1846, Jackson’s wife and daughter, who were enslaved by a different local plantation owner, were forced to move to Georgia with their enslavers. Heartbroken and furious at their separation, Jackson was determined to earn money and buy his family’s freedom. He waited until Christmas Day and took a bold step: He escaped on horseback.

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[The Blue Flower]

1. I finally read Uncle Tom's Cabin last year

i always assumed it would be cliche-ridden and disappointing. It was actually quite compelling.

[Dan]

2. Probably gives you a different perspective on Uncle Tom.