Uncle Tom's Cabin

Creation and Confrontation of Stereotype

From Re-Presenting Black Womanhood

A black and white illustration of children and a woman standing at a cabin door

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin related a dramatic and emotional story that heavily influenced the Northern abolitionist movement. However, since it's publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin has sparked controversy for its traumatic impact on stereotypes within American popular culture and the consumable objects produced as a result.

Please note that this exhibition contains content associated with difficult histories and historical trauma.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1853 edition

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin was an immediate best seller and drew attention to the anti-slavery movement. However, in making her argument for abolition, Stowe relied on racial stereotypes, including of Black women, to shape her characters for a primarily white audience.

To learn more about Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin, visit: https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/

A dark brown book with a gold print, showing several figures surrounding the door of a log cabin. Also an image of an open book. The center has an ink print of a log cabin surrounded by several dark-skinned people wearing rags. In the doorway is a woman, looking at a young boy. The boy is pointing to the left at a man holding an armful of sticks. There is a baby crawling between them, and a man, carrying a scythe, is entering the scene from the left. There is text above and below the print which reads: Uncle Tom's Cabin. Life Among the Lowly. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Vol. 1 Two hundred and sixty-third thousand. Boston: John P. Jewett & Company. Cleveland, Ohio. Jewett, Proctor & Worthington. 1853

An image of a sheet of paper with color-lithographed paper dolls. The center and the top of the paper are filled with various figures. The top right has a light-skinned brown-haired woman in fine clothing. Below her is a light-skinned blonde girl lying in a bed. To the right is a light-skinned woman dressed in rags, running to the left while carrying a baby. To her right are two vicious-looking dogs. On the middle right, there is an image of rocks. Next to the rocks is a dark-skinned girl wearing colorful gingham rags and crying into a red handkerchief. On her right is an elderly dark-skinned man who is kneeling. Next is a light-skinned man standing on a stump. He is wearing a hat and fine clothing and is holding a piece of paper. Next to him is three dark-skinned figures: a man holding a stick, a woman holding fruit on her head, and a man holding fruit. They are dressed in rags. The bottom left has tropical trees and bushes. In the middle bottom of the page, a light-skinned, well-dressed man is holding a whip and the collar of a kneeling dark-skinned man. Below them is a dark-skinned man with white hair sitting on a chair. A light-skinned blonde girl is sitting on his lap and showing him a book. On their right, there is a dark-skinned man in a red shirt, standing with his back to the viewer. The bottom right has an image of a brown log cabin.
Image of color-lithographed paper doll, depicting a dark-skinned girl wearing a hat and colorful gingham rags.

1896 depiction of Stowe's character Topsy

1896 depiction of Stowe's character Topsy

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Paper Dolls

The Boston Sunday Globe, 1896

Goods for children and adults bearing images based on Uncle Tom’s Cabin flourished after the book’s publication. These children’s paper dolls, offered for free in a Boston newspaper, reflect racial stereotypes that emerged before, and persisted long after, the book’s publication.

In her book, Stowe described Topsy, an enslaved girl, as “the blackest of her race,” “wicked,” and needing love, evoking pity and guilt from white readers. Meanwhile, Eliza, an enslaved woman seeking freedom, was characterized as light-skinned, beautiful, and refined, garnering sympathy and indignation. This exaggerated correlation of morality, beauty, and skin color manifested in consumer products passed on to later generations.

Image of color-lithographed paper doll depicting a light-skinned woman dressed in rags, running to the left while carrying a baby.

1896 Depiction of Stowe's character Eliza

1896 Depiction of Stowe's character Eliza

Topsy-Turvy Doll

Albert Bruckner’s Sons, ca. 1901 – 1930

Front of a two-sided cloth doll with a skirt that flips from one side to the other to reveal the torso of a dark-skinned female figure with a red and white dress. Her bodice is red and white polka-dot, her skirt is red and white gingham. She is wearing a simple white apron and a red and white polka-dot headwrap.

Up or down? Based on characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin, this cloth doll was a child’s toy, flipped one way to represent a Black female and the other way to show a white girl. These “topsy-turvy” dolls first appeared in the early 1800s, but they continue to be mass-produced and sold as problematic tourist items and collectibles to the present day. The meaning behind these dolls is highly debated—were they playthings of oppression or resistance?

Front of two-sided cloth doll with a skirt that flips from one side to the other to reveal the torso of a female figure with light skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. She is dressed in a red and white gingham dress with trim. She is wearing a white ruffled apron and a white cap with lace. She has painted facial features.

Back of a two-sided cloth doll with a skirt that flips from one side to the other to reveal the torso of a dark-skinned female figure with a red and white dress. Her bodice is red and white polka-dot, her skirt is red and white gingham. She is wearing a simple white apron and a red and white polka-dot headwrap.
A piece of red and white gingham fabric with a tag. The tag reads Bruckner Doll, Made in U.S.A.
Back of two-sided cloth doll with a skirt that flips from one side to the other to reveal the torso of a female figure with light skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. She is dressed in a red and white gingham dress with trim. She is wearing a white ruffled apron and a white cap with lace. She has painted facial features.

An image of the face of dark-skinned girl printed on the background of a blue-dyed, textile sugar sack. The girl has two braids, blank eyes, and dark tears running down her face. The background has the words Sugar Island Sugar and Pure Cane running sideways across the image.
An image of the face of a woman with medium-tone skinned printed on the background of a lacy white handkerchief. The woman has short dark hair, blank red-rimmed eyes, and has tears running down her face. On the lower right side of the image under the woman are the words A Saar 2016.

Indigo Blue and High Yella’ Blue

Alison Saar, 2016

In her work, Alison Saar, a contemporary Black artist and sculptor, reacts against stereotypical representations such as the figures of Topsy and Eliza. Saar depicts a dark-skinned female on a piece of rough indigo-dyed sugar sack and a lighter-skinned figure on a delicate vintage handkerchief. Blank eyes are a motif in Saar’s work, which she calls “everywoman,” to evoke a broader shared history of trauma and grief while pointing to otherworldly spiritual qualities of the women she represents. The two pieces encourage viewers to think beyond the limiting roles historically assigned to Black women.

Listen to Alison Saar speak about her work and 2018 exhibition Topsy Turvy at the L.A. Louver in Los Angeles: Alison Saar Topsy Turvy

This exhibition is presented by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. To learn more, visit www.winterthur.org.

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