Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 47

Fig. 2.5

Fig. 2.6

two HarrietsTwo famous Northerners who became “conductors” shared the same first name Harriet. Harriet TubmanTubman, Harriet was a former slave who escaped and received the name Moses for her role in helping many other slaves “travel” along the Underground Railroad to freedom. She has become an American icon and a living bridge from one era to another, partly due to her age: she lived for almost a half century after the Civil War ended.

The other Harriet was a small white lady with the full name Harriet Beecher StoweStowe, who wrote one of the most famous novels in American history, Uncle Tom’s CabinUncle Tom’s Cabin, which portrayed graphically the cruelty of slavery. According to legend, President Abraham LincolnLincoln, Abraham famously greeted Stowe with the words: “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!” Whether or not Lincoln actually said these words, most historians believe that Stowe’s novel was one of the causes of the Civil War and that her book convinced many Northerners of the wrongs of the slavery system.

Brown, HoweHowe, DouglassDouglass, FrederickOther famous people of the period include the radical abolitionistabolitionist John BrownBrown, John, who with his supporters had the hope of starting a revolution with freed slaves. Although he was hanged for treason, his actions are also thought to have helped to begin the Civil War. His name became immortalized in connection with the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, the rousing anthem adopted by Union forces during the Civil War. The author who wrote the lyrics to this well-known song that would later be sung during the Civil Rights movementCivil Rights movement was Julia Ward HoweHowe, yet another abolitionist. In contrast to the former slave Harriet TubmanTubman, Harriet, Harriet Beecher StoweStowe, John Brown, and Julia Ward Howe were all white. A famous black abolitionist, author, journalist, statesman, and reformer was Frederick DouglassDouglass, Frederick, whose life began in slavery. Douglass became one of the greatest public speakers in American history, wrote one of the classic American autobiographies, participated in the Seneca Falls ConventionSeneca Falls Convention and supported women’s rights, founded a weekly newspaper, and became a well-known journalist. Just like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass has also been portrayed on two American stamps.

One person who hasn’t yet been portrayed on an American stamp but who had a huge effect on American history was yet [43]another slave, whose story however didn’t have the same happy ending like those of Frederick DouglassDouglass, Frederick and Harriet TubmanTubman, Harriet.

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Fig. 2.8