Portrayal of American abolitionist and novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe to be presented Feb. 25, 2008 at WVU Parkersburg.
 

CONTACT:   Debbie Richards, special assistant to the president, 304-424-8201.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Virginia University at Parkersburg will feature a portrayal of American abolitionist and novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe at 11a.m., Monday (Feb. 25), in the college theatre. 

Portraying Stowe will be Ellen Pope.   Monday's program is sponsored by WVU at Parkersburg's Social Justice Committee in observance of Black History Month.  It is free and open to the public. 

While she wrote at least 10 adult novels, Harriet Beecher Stowe is predominantly known for her first, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in 1852.  In writing the book, Stowe drew on her personal experience: she was familiar with slavery, the anti-slavery movement, and the underground railroad because Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati where Stowe had lived, was a slave state.

Following publication of the book, she became a celebrity, speaking against slavery both in America and Europe. She wrote "A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1853, extensively documenting the realities on which the book was based, to refute critics who tried to argue that it was inauthentic.  She published a second anti-slavery novel, "Dred," in 1856.  When she visited President Lincoln in 1862, legend claims that he greeted her as "the little lady who made this big war”-- the war between the states.

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For additional information, contact:
Connie Dziagwa
WVU Parkersburg
Executive Director
Institutional Advancement
(304-424-8203, Office)
(304-424-8315, Fax)

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