Uncle Tom's Cabin

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written in 1852. The book is about African Americans and slavery and how they responded and acted with it going on. Uncle Tom is sold from owner to owner and ends up with Augustine St Claire and becomes friend with his daughter Eva. After St Claire dies in an accident he is sold to Simon Legree. A couple of Legree’s slaves pretend to run away but just hide and Uncle Tom will not tell where they are to Legree. In the end Legree beats Uncle Tom so bad he dies. This story tells about the hardships the slaves have to go through. This book talks about all types of stereotypes blacks have to this day. One from the story is Tom being a hardworking servant to master. I chose this book because it deals with a lot of race and the way people were treated wrong.

This book can be related to nearly any of the readings we have had. I chose the chapter “How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America” by Paula S. Rothenberg. The GI Bill said that everyone would get benefits if they were in the war. The white males got all their benefits taking advantage of their opportunities. This was great for them. For blacks and women, they got kicked to the curb. They did not get any of their benefits. “Theoretically they were available to all veterans; in practice women and black veterans did not get anywhere near their share,” Rothenberg said. This is saying they basically slaved in the army, risking their lives for nothing. They were gaining to positives out of serving. Like slaves in the past, they were ordered around to do different chores and were not given any benefits. People were treated unfairly and people were never punished for it.

This book could relate to nearly any of our chapters because it deals with so much race and equality. I think slavery is bad and I do not like to hear that it is going on today. People who are whipped for doing hard work is not fair. People with power can choose to run things they way they want.