Extra Credit Questions

[L Verge]

(07-28-2018 08:47 AM)Gene C Wrote:  You can find this book on Internet Archives.
The print is small, it looks a bit dry at 256 pages, not a quick read, and no illustrations or pictures.

https://archive.org/details/keytouncletomsca00stow

Mrs. Stowe wrote this book to vindicate/prove her "information" in the original novel of Uncle Tom's Cabin after that first book raised so much Heqq both North and South.

BTW: In case you don't already know this, the original book was loosely based on a slave by the name of Josiah Henson, who was born here in Southern Maryland (Charles County), then sold to a master in Montgomery County (north of DC), and finally found freedom at last in Canada. Google Josiah Henson - interesting story.

The farm in Montgomery County where he lived was long ago swallowed up by urban sprawl. However, there is a log cabin attached to a house there that was once believed to have been Henson's slave cabin, and it was bought by the county gov't. and restored. There is now a great deal of debate as to whether or not the cabin is genuine, and the surrounding community is not happy to have a museum in their midst that attracts more traffic.

I'm sure that many of you know this: "Among all the readers of Stowe’s Key, there was one whose influence could not be overstated. According to the Library of Congress’s circulation records, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin on June 16, 1862, and returned it 43 days later, on July 29. The dates correspond exactly to the time during which he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. We may never know the degree to which Harriet Beecher Stowe influenced Abraham Lincoln himself. But it is clear that the northern writer used her celebrity platform to powerfully sway public opinion toward emancipation. And during the critical time when Lincoln was crafting the Emancipation Proclamation, he had Stowe’s Key–and Josiah Henson’s story— near at hand.

"Which would be fitting as the original offering played a major role in Lincoln’s election. His Republican Party had distributed 100,000 copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin during the presidential campaign of 1860 as a way to stir up abolitionist support. Without the abolitionist press and Stowe’s book, it’s possible that Lincoln would not have garnered enough support to be elected President. As Radical Republican leader and U.S. Senator Charles Sumner declared, 'Had there been no Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there would have been no Lincoln in the White House.'”

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/s...hvTXESz.99

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Me again: For those within a reasonable driving distance from Washington, D.C.:

YOU’RE INVITED
TO A SPECIAL SCREENING OF
“JOSIAH”
Through interviews with leading experts and Josiah Henson’s descendants, the film traces Henson’s harrowing journey from slavery in Maryland and Kentucky to freedom in Canada. This is an unmissable documentary that restores a hero of the abolitionist movement to his rightful place in history. Directed/Produced by Jared Brock. U.S., 2018, 40 min.

The film screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Jared Brock and Catherine Leggett, First Lady of Montgomery County. Tickets are $5 and are available on the AFI Silver Theatre website and at the AFI box office.

When: Friday, August 10th

Where: AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Doors open at 7:00 PM and movie begins at 7:30 PM.

If you are able to attend, please post here or send me a review.