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Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Religion and Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson Plan
By David J. Cope
Overview
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin reflected not only the racial attitudes of the time but also the religious context of living in the United States in the 1800s. Students will examine how Stowe intersperses Biblical references throughout the novel. Many of the allusions, while familiar to readers in her era, are unfamiliar today and may take some explanation. For students interested in music, a study of Stowe's references to various hymns and classical music is included in this lesson.
Time Required
Three to four days, including background readings and discussions
Materials Needed
The Lesson
Anticipatory Set
- On the day before the full lesson, have the class select a social issue that requires change or attention in the United States today. Then, have students write down on a piece of scrap paper their reactions to the following: If you were preparing an article for a magazine or newspaper or a book, trying to influence the public on this topic, name two pieces of music that you would use in your literary effort to draw your readers' attention to the subject.
- List students' responses on the board, asking them to answer the following (Note whether any religious or classical music was selected and ask why or why not):
- Why did you choose these numbers?
- What message(s) do they contain?
- Would all audiences be knowledgeable about these selections and would they understand the message(s)?
- Ask several students to bring in their selections for the following day and play them. Review the questions from the previous day and compare the responses.
Procedures
- Assign the class to read "Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the Slavery in America website. Have them note Harriet Stowe's religious affiliations throughout her life. Then, place this quote of Stowe's on the board, "I am a minister's daughter, and a minister's wife, and I have had six brothers in the ministry (one is in heaven); I certainly ought to know something of the feelings of ministers on the subject." Ask students how they think this quote influences Stowe's writing.
- Give each student a copy of the "Religious References in Uncle Tom's Cabin" handout(link to below). Have them read the quotes (the background and repercussions to the quote about "certain ministers" appears in the lesson Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Cost of Fame for Harriet Beecher Stowe, dealing with Dr. Joel Parker) and write a response sentence for these questions:
- What was Harriet Beecher Stowe's purpose in this portion?
- How would her Christian audience react to this passage?
- Could this passage apply to the social issue that the class selected earlier?
Then, discuss with students the individual response by the class.
- Mary Henderson Eastman, a self-styled "member of one of the [First Families of Virginia] F.F.V's, as a mother, and as a Christian," wrote the most widely read "anti-Tom" novel, Aunt Phillis's Cabin or Southern Life As It Is. In the "Preface," Eastman makes the historical Biblical case for slavery. Give each student a copy of "The Legacy of Ham" handout(link to below). After they have read the excerpts, ask students to write a sermon or an article for a religious paper advocating slavery. Assign volunteers to research the religious arguments to counter Eastman's thesis and prepare a sermon or article for a religious paper. Alternate readings of the defense and attack sermons/articles.
- Tell the class that Stowe realized many abolitionists who based their opinions on religion were also deeply prejudiced against Blacks. (This issue appears in the lesson "Attitudes and Uncle Tom's Cabin" Procedure 3 dealing with African colonization.) Distribute a copy of the "Racial Prejudice in Uncle Tom's Cabin" handout(link to below) to each student. After a brief silent reading period, have the class discuss the role of prejudice as Stowe examined it. Ask students how prejudice would be exhibited in the social issue that they selected.
- Using the social issue selected by the class, divide the students into research groups based on a variety of religious affiliations. Have each group find an appropriate Internet site for its religious group and/or interview the local clergy as to the denominational stance. Remind students that many people within the same religious group hold differing opinions and that the students should try to find as broad-based information as possible. Have each group write a two-page essay on the information it gathered and report its findings to the class. Create a chart on the board noting areas of agreement and disagreement between the religious organizations. Discuss the difficulty in writing a social issue work, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, today.
- Tell the class that Stowe used at least 12 references to hymns in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Most of these were commonly found in hymnals of the day, and a few are still in popular use. (It is interesting to note that spirituals are almost non-existent in the novel.) The most famous of the hymns quoted is "Amazing Grace." In Chapter Thirty-Eight, Simon Legree confronts Tom about his religious beliefs. Stowe says, "The atheistic taunts of his cruel master sunk his before dejected soul to the lowest ebb." Tom revives, however, with a vision of Christ and the words of "Amazing Grace."
Give each student a copy of the handout "John Newton and Amazing Grace."(link to below) Following a brief reading period, ask students why Stowe selected this hymn as to its theme and the understood reference to Newton's life. Refer the students to the second and third quotes on the "Religious References in Uncle Tom's Cabin" handout. In what ways do Stowe and Newton agree? Using the social issue selected by the class, ask the students what kind of "reformed" individuals would make the most impact on their cause, i.e., John Newton.
- The day before this part of the lesson, ask students to bring in an example of the music they listen to when they feel depressed and need an uplifting experience. Play a few selections and discuss why this music affects them in that way. Harriet Beecher Stowe writes in Uncle Tom's Cabin that, following the death of his daughter Eva, Augustine St. Clare falls into a deep depression. In Chapter Twenty-Eight, he decides to sing and play a transcription of "Dies Irae" from Mozart's Requiem, which his mother arranged. Stowe wrote that "voice and instrument seemed both living, and threw out with vivid sympathy those strains which the ethereal Mozart first conceived as his own dying requiem." Re-tell for the class the story of how Mozart wrote the Requiem. (The story of the writing of the Requiem is the basis for the concluding portion of the play and movie "Amadeus." Peter Shaffer took great liberties with the story and a viewing would be enlightening for those unfamiliar with either work.) The facts, outside of the play and movie, appear to be as follows:
Count Franz Walsegg-Stupach, a music lover who presented twice-weekly concerts, requested the Requiem. The Count habitually contracted music to be written for these occasions and then would re-copy the scores so only he knew the true composer. After presenting the new work, the Count asked his guests to name the composer, and inevitably they would suggest the Count as the author, much to his pleasure. Walsegg's wife died in February 1791, and, in July, he sent his steward, Franz Anton Leitgeb (the "mysterious stranger"), to commission Mozart to write the Requiem. The writing was to be a secret, sealed with a substantial amount of money up front and with more to be paid on completion. Mozart, working on two other commissions and being quite ill, completed only the Requiem and Kyrie and sketched the next eight sections from the Dies Irae through the Hostias. Three movements were not even begun when Mozart died. His wife Constanze had one of his pupils, Franz Xaver Susmayr, complete the score and delivered it to Walsegg in December 1893. Walsegg and Constanze then fought a legal battle over control of the Requiem with Constanze paying Walsegg for the publication rights. Eventually, a family friend, Baron Gottfried van Swieten, sponsored a performance of the Requiem as a fundraiser for Constanze and her children.
Listen to a recording of the "Dies Irae." Ask the class if they agree with St. Clare's assessment, "What a sublime conception is that of the final judgment." Stowe notes that, "Tom would have sympathized more heartily, if he had known the meaning of the beautiful (Latin) words." Write the lyrics (see below) on the board and have the class discuss Stowe's statement about Tom's understanding.
Think, O Jesus, for what reason
Thou endured'st earth's spite and treason,
Nor me lose, in that dread season;
Seeking me, thy worn feet hasted,
On the cross thy soul death tasted,
Let not all these toils be wasted.
- The serial in the National Era ended differently than the book. Provide a copy of this ending, below, for the class to read:
When you grow up, show your pity by doing all you can for them (the poor and oppressed). Never, if you can help it, let a colored child be shut out from school or treated with neglect and contempt on account of his color. Remember the sweet example of little Eva.... I hope the foolish and unchristian prejudice against people merely on account of their complexion will be done away with.
Ask the class, to answer these questions:
- To what audience Stowe was appealing?
- Knowing the content and depth of the story, does this surprise you?
- How do schools and society try to accomplish this same message today?
Assessment
Assess the students through observations made during the class discussions and through the written assignments and projects provided in the Procedures section.
Related Works
Video: "Amadeus" (1984)
Interdisciplinary Links
The lesson on religion related to Uncle Tom's Cabin allows for great interdisciplinary links with the English and music curriculums and character education.
This lesson was submitted by David J. Cope, honors teacher at Titusville Senior High School, Titusville, Pennsylvania.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Religion and Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson
Handout One: Religious References in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Instructions: Read and write a response sentence for each of the quotes below from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Make sure your responses answer the following:
- What was Harriet Beecher Stowe's purpose in this portion?
- How would her Christian audience react to this passage?
- Could this passage apply to the social issue that the class selected earlier?
- "This is God's curse on slavery! --a bitter, bitter, most accursed thing! --a curse to the master and a curse to the slave! I was a fool to think I could make anything good out of such a deadly evil. It is a sin to hold a slave under laws like ours." (Mrs. Shelby, the wife Uncle Tom's original owner) Chapter Five.
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- "The trader had arrived at that stage of Christian and political perfection which has been recommended by some preachers and politicians of the north, lately, in which he had completely overcome every humane weakness and prejudice." Chapter Twelve
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- "If he had only been instructed by certain ministers of Christianity, he might have thought better of it, and seen in it an every-day incident of a lawful trade; a trade which is the vital support of an institution which an American divine tells us has "no evils but such as are inseparable from any other relations in social and domestic life." Chapter Twelve
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- "Don't the Bible say we must love everybody?" (Eva) "O, the Bible! To be sure, it says a great many such things; but, the, nobody ever thinks of doing them, --you know, Eva, nobody does." (Henrique, her cousin) Chapter Twenty-Three
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- "I'm your church now! You understand, --you've got to be as I say." (Legree to Tom) Chapter Thirty-One
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- "The Lord never visits these parts." (Female slave to Tom on the Legree plantation) Chapter Thirty-Three
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- "A day of grace is yet held out to us. Both North and South have been guilty before god; and the Christian church has a heavy account to answer." ("Concluding Remarks") Chapter Forty-Five
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Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Religion and Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson
Handout Two: Racial Prejudice in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Chapter Twenty-Eight:
"They (the free slaves) will have to go north, where labor is the fashion, --the universal custom; and tell me, now, is there enough Christian philanthropy, among your northern states, to bear with the process of their education and elevation? You send thousands of dollars to foreign missions; but could you endure to have the heathen sent into your towns and villages, and give your time and thoughts, and money, to raise them to the Christian standard?" (St. Claire to his cousin Ophelia)
Chapter Sixteen:
"You would think no harm in a child's caressing a large dog, even if he was black; but a creature that can think, and reason, and feel, and is immortal, you shudder at; confess it, cousin. I know the feeling among some of you northerners well enough. Not that there is a particle of virtue in our not having it; but custom with us does what Christianity ought to do, --obliterates the feeling of personal prejudice. I have often noticed, in my travels north, how much stronger this was with you than with us. You loathe them as you would a snake or a toad, yet you are indignant at their wrongs. You would not have them abused; but you don't want to have anything to do with them yourselves. You would send them to Africa, out of your sight and smell, and then send a missionary or two to do up all the self-denial of elevating them compendiously. Isn't that it?" (St. Claire to Ophelia)
Chapter Twenty-Six:
"'I've always had a prejudice against negroes,' said Miss Ophelia, 'and it's a fact, I never could bear to have that child (Topsy) touch me; but, I don't think she knew it.'"
Chapter Twenty-Seven:
"'She (Eva) said she loved me,' said Topsy, --'she did! O, dear! Oh, dear! There an't nobody left now, --there an't!" (Topsy to Ophelia on Eva's death)
"'Topsy, you poor child,' she said, as she led her into her room, 'don't give up! I can love you, though I am not like that dear little child. I hope I've learnt something of the love of Christ from her. I can love you; I do, and I'll try to help you to grow up a good Christian girl.'...She acquired an influence over the mind of the destitute child that she never lost." (Ophelia)
Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Religion and Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson
Handout Three: John Newton and Amazing Grace
John Newton was born in London on July 24, 1725. His mother, a pious Christian, died just before Newton's seventh birthday. His father commanded a merchant ship and, on John's eleventh birthday, took the boy to sea with him for six voyages.
In 1742, Newton's father acquired a position for him on a ship. However, before the ship sailed the 17 year-old visited his mother's close family friends in Kent and fell in love with their 14 year-old daughter, Mary Catlett. Staying purposefully at the Catlett's too long, he missed the ship's embarking. As punishment, his father sent him away as a common sailor to Venice for a year. Heedless of the dangerous wartime between England and France in 1744, Newton tried to see Mary again but the H.M.S. Harwich impressed him into service. Conditions on the ship proved impossible, so Newton deserted. Upon his recapture, he was publicly stripped and flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman.
Newton was exchanged into the service of a slave ship, where he became the servant of the slave trader, a friend of his father's. However, the captain died within six months, and Newton persuaded the ship's other owner to take him on as a servant and apprentice. In a short time, Newton fell ill and received brutal care. Upon his miraculous recovery, another sea captain friend of his father's rescued him in 1748, this time with better results.
Newton eventually became the captain of his own slave ship, The Greyhound, where he wrote the following:
During the time I was engaged in the slave trade, I never had the least scruple to its lawfulness. I was upon the whole satisfied with it as the appointment providence had marked out for me. It was indeed counted a genteel employment, usually very profitable, though to me it did not prove so, the Lord seeing that a large increase of wealth would not be good for me.
Newton eventually viewed his occupation differently. For eleven days, Newton attempted to steer his vessel through a violent storm. Finally, he tied himself to the helm and tried to hold the ship on course. During the next eleven hours, he experienced his "great deliverance." While the storm raged, he yelled, "Lord, have mercy upon us." Later, he believed that God answered his call and, for the rest of his life, observed that as the day of his conversion. He later wrote in his diary, "Not well able to write; but I endeavor to observe the return of this day with humiliation, prayer, and praise." This frightening event and subsequent change of heart influenced Newton's writing the hymn "Amazing Grace."
On February 1, 1750, Newton married Mary Catlett. He stated that their love "equaled all that the writers of romance have imagined." He gave up seafaring and became a disciple of evangelists George Whitefield and John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. Newton studied for the ministry, and the Bishop of Lincoln ordained him. He accepted the position at Olney, Buckinghamshire, and became friends with the poet William Cowper. For 15 years, they collaborated on writing hymns (Cowper producing 68, and Newton 280) for the Sunday evening services. They collected and printed them in one of the most popular hymnals of the era, Olney Hymns. Today, besides "Amazing Grace," many congregations still use "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds," and "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken."
Cowper and Newton wrote the Olney Hymns aligned to the daily scripture readings. The most famous hymn was "Faith's Review and Expectation." The basis for it was I Chronicles 17:16-17: "And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God." Today "Faith's Review" is known as "Amazing Grace."
In 1780, Newton left Olney, becoming the rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London. There, he met and influenced William Wilberforce. Blind during the last years of his life, Newton died in London on December 21, 1807.
Stowe mentions William Wilberforce in the opening chapter of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The slave-trader Haley discusses his philosophy on how to handle slaves with Mr. Shelby. Stowe ends the paragraph sarcastically with, "And the trader leaned back in his chair, and folded his arm, with an air of virtuous decision, apparently considering himself a second Wilberforce."
William Wilberforce, whose father died when he was quite young, grew up under the influence of his aunt, a strong supporter of the Methodist movement. At 17, he attended St. John's College, Cambridge, where he met William Pitt, Britain's future Prime Minister. However, the behavior of most of his fellow students shocked Wilberforce.
After leaving the university, Wilberforce won a seat in Parliament as a supporter of Pitt. His friend, John Newton, persuaded him that his political life could be used for the service of God. Wilberforce pressed for the abolition of the English slave trade, but opposition forces defeated his first bill in 1791 by 163 votes to 88. A second attempt in 1806 passed the House of Commons but failed in the House of Lords. Through the concerted efforts of Wilberforce in the House of Commons and Lord Grenville in the House of Lords, the bill finally passed and went into effect on March 25, 1807.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Unit of Study
Religion and Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson
Handout Four: The Legacy of Ham
"God, who created the human race, will they should be holy like himself. Sin was committed, and the curse of sin, death, was induces; other punishments were denounced for the perpetration of particular crimes --the shedding of man's blood for murder, and the curse of slavery.
"We are told in Gen, ix.22, 'And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,'" And Noah said, 'cursed by Canaan, a servant of servant shall he be unto his brethren.'"
"'The whole continent of Africa,' says bishop Newton, 'was people principally by the descendants of Ham.'"
"Yet do the Scriptures evidently permit slavery, even to the present time? The curse on the serpent (to crawl on its belly because it deceived Eve) uttered more than 1,600 years before the curse of Noah upon Ham and his race, has lost nothing of its force and true meaning."
"However inexplicable may be the fact that God would appoint the curse of continual servitude on a portion of his creation, will any one dare, with the Bible open in his hands, to say the fact does not exist?"
"It is said no nation of the earth has equaled the Jewish (citing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as slave holders) in the enslaving of negroes, except the negroes themselves."
"The existence of slavery...is palpable from the time of the pronouncing of the curse, until the glorious advent of the Son of God. When he came, slavery existed in every part of the world."
"Did he (Jesus) condemn the institution which he had made? Did he establish universal freedom? Oh! No; he came to redeem the world from the power of sin; his was no earthly mission; he did not interfere with the organization of society."
"Christ alludes to slavery, but does not forbid it."
"Show me in the history of the Old Testament, or in the life of Christ, authority to proclaim as a sin the holding of the race of Ham and Canaan in bondage."
"In the South, they are necessary; though an evil, it is one that cannot be dispensed with; and here they have been retained, and will be retained, unless God should manifest his will (which never yet has been done) to the contrary."
"Slavery, authorized by God, permitted by Jesus Christ, sanctioned by the apostles, maintained by good men of all ages, is still existing in a portion of our beloved country."
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