Harriet Beecher Stowe offered insights on the inequities of slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin, challenging prevalent societal beliefs about black people's physical and emotional capacities. Stowe rose to prominence in the anti-slavery struggle, but her views on race were nuanced. She opposed racial segregation and discrimination, but she also believed that blacks were responsible for their own oppression. Stowe was born on April 20th, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. Her father was a pastor who wrote books advocating for American independence from Britain. Her mother was a sister of Lyman Beecher, one of the most prominent abolitionists in the United States. When Harriet was nine years old, her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where her father took over the church he had previously attended in Litchfield. She showed an interest in literature at a young age and wrote poems and stories when she was only ten years old. When she was 12 years old, Stowe was given a book called The Columbian Orator by Dr. William Cullen Bryant which inspired her to write her own essays on political topics. She continued writing essays throughout her childhood and teenage years and received praise for them. In 1826, at the age of 17, Stowe published her first work entitled Letters from the West Indies. The book was well-received by critics and raised Stowe's public profile.