On March 9 , 1850 , Stowe wrote to Gamaliel Bailey , editor of the weekly antislavery journal National Era , that she planned to write a story about the problem of slavery : `` I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak ... I hope every woman who can write will not be silent . ''
On March 9 , 1850 , Stowe wrote to the editor of the antislavery journal National Era .