Anti Uncle Tom Novels




Illustration for
Frank Freeman's Barber Shop
In his Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture, Thomas F. Gossett lists 27 pro-slavery works written in response to Stowe's novel between 1852 and the Civil War.* These novels were written by men and women, northerners and southerners. They adopt a variety of polemical strategies, from defending the plantation as a good place to attacking the North for its treatment of "white slaves" (the working class) to depicting blacks as either happy in slavery or racially unfit for freedom. None of these novels attained anything like the popular success of Stowe's book, but some went through a number of printings and were widely read in the North. As a group they're interesting for several reasons -- for what they say about race and about sectionalism, and for what they say about Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's telling to see which of Stowe's characters and scenes get evoked, and how they get rewritten. It's also perhaps surprising to see how many similarities exist, how little some aspects of Stowe's protest novel had to be changed in order to serve the other side of the issue she was protesting against. A goal of the site is to include at least chapters from all the "anti-Tom" novels. Here are the texts currently available. (There were even "anti-Tom" children's books. One of them, Little Eva: The Flower of the South, is available in the archive's UTC AS CHILDREN'S BOOK section.)
  • Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is
    By Mary Henderson Eastman [Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co, 1852]
  • Life at the South; or, Uncle Tom's Cabin As It Is
    By W. L. G. Smith [Buffalo: Geo. H. Derby & Co, 1852]
  • "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Contrasted With Buckingham Hall, The Planter's Home
    By Robert Criswell, Esq. [New York: D. Fanshaw, 1852]
  • Frank Freeman's Barber Shop: A Tale
    By Rev. Baynard R. Hall, D.D. [New York: Charles Scribner, 1852]
  • The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters
    By "J. Thornton Randolph" (Charles Jacobs Peterson) [Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1852]
  • The North and the South; or, Slavery and Its Contrasts [EXCERPTS]
    By Caroline Rush [Philadelphia: Crissy & Markley, 1852]
  • The Lofty and the Lowly; or, Good in All and None All-Good [EXCERPTS]
    By Maria J. McIntosh [New York: Appleton, 1853]
  • Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South
    By Miss Martha Haines Butt [Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., 1853]
  • Uncle Robin in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston
    By J. W. Page [Richmond: J. W. Randolph, 1853]
  • Liberia; or, Mr. Peyton's Experiments
    By Sarah J. Hale [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1853]
  • Mr. Frank, The Underground Mail-Agent
    By "Vidi" [Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1853]
  • The Master's House; A Tale of Southern Life [EXCERPTS]
    By "Logan" (Thomas Bangs Thorpe) [New York: T. L. McElrath, 1854]
  • The Planter's Northern Bride
    By Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz [Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1854]
  • Tit For Tat [EXCERPTS]
    By "A Lady of New Orleans" [New York: Garret, 1856]
  • White Acre vs. Black Acre
    By William M. Burwell [Richmond: J. W. Randolph, 1856]
  • The Ebony Idol
    By Mrs. G. M. Flanders [New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1860]
  • Ellen; or, The Fanatic's Daughter
    By Mrs. V. G. Cowdin [Mobile: S. H. Goetzel & Company, 1860]
  • The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina [EXCERPTS]
    By Mrs. Henry R. Schoolcraft [Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1860]


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