Literature Network » Harriet Beecher Stowe

Ontario was home to the real hero of `Uncle Tom's Cabin'

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From: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 19900624
Author:Claudia Capos

DRESDEN, Ontario - The world knew him simply as Uncle Tom, the hero of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe's compelling novel about American slavery.

But to the townsfolk of what is now Dresden, a small settlement in Ontario, Canada - and to Stowe herself - Uncle Tom was more than a fictional character in a book. He was a key figure in black history, both in America and Canada.

His real name was the Rev. Josiah Henson. He was an American slave who escaped with his family to Canada in 1830 and later established the first vocational school for fugitive slaves on the outskirts of ...

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