Response of Fredrick Douglass to Uncle Toms Cabin by...

Fredrick Douglass Response to Uncle Toms Cabin Frederick Douglass was arguably the most prominent African American abolitionist during the mid-19th century. He established his notoriety through his narrative entitled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave published in 1845. Frederick Douglass also produced an African American newspaper, Frederick Douglass Paper, which highlighted the reception and critiques of Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin. Frederick Douglass praised Uncle Toms Cabin through not only his writing but in the critiques and letters contained in his newspaper. It is important to look at these reviews to understand Douglass intentions. However, C.V.S. from the Provincial†¦show more content†¦Ethiop also hopes the novels impact will continue to look out until every Uncle Tom is restored to his God-given rights - his full manhood - till every vestige of justice is done him (Ethiop). On 2 December 1853, Douglass himself wrote and published a letter to Harriet Beecher Stowe concerning her added involvement in abolitionism in Frederick Douglass Paper. In this letter Douglass directly, under his own name, praises Uncle Toms Cabin as a useful tool in the fight for abolitionism. He writes, I desire to express, dear Madam, my deep sense of the value of the services which you have already rendered my afflicted and persecuted people, by the publication of your inimitable book on the subject of slavery. That contribution to our bleeding cause, alone, involves us in a debt of gratitude which cannot be measured . . . . (Douglass) . By writing this letter, Douglass establishes the novel as both valuable and sympathetic to the plight of the enslaved African American. His stature as the premiere African American abolitionist affirms this to the public. However, Douglass politics on colonization were in direct opposition to Uncle Toms Cabin. C.V.S., a writer for Provincial Freeman, writes about Douglass, . . . [H]e pronounces colonization in Africa a nefarious and abominable scheme, and