Originally published in 1871, Pink and White Tyranny is, seemingly, a light, comic story about a frivolous young girl who marries for money. However, as with most of Beecher Stowe's writings, things are not what they appear on the surface. This ""society novel,"" instead, is a critique of the nineteenth-century's dominant view that women should use their femininity to gain power. Reflective of Stowe's progressive moral and domestic views, the novel is a refreshing work of social satire that showcases Stowe's comic abilities as well as her progressive views.
1811-1896
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Harriet was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, as the daughter of an outspoken religious leader Lyman Beecher. She was the sister of the educator and author, Catherine Beecher, clergymen Henry Ward Beecher and Charles Beecher.
Her father was a preacher who was greatly effected by the pro-slavery riots that took place in Cincinnati in 1834.
Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) depicted life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the U.S. and Britain and made the political issues of the 1850s regarding slavery tangible to millions, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Upon meeting Stowe, Abraham Lincoln allegedly remarked, "So this is the little old lady who started this new great war!"
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