Biography

Uncle Tom is the main character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. At the beginning of the novel Uncle Tom is separated from his family, sold to a slave trader, and then to a slave owner, Mr. St. Clare. Tom befriends Mr. St. Clare's daughter, Eva, and they read the Bible together. After Mr. St. Clare dies, Tom is sent to a harsh slave owner, Simon Legree, who works slaves to death. Tom believes that he is to suffer on behalf of his fellow slaves, and that he is to spread Christianity to them. When two young women on Legree's plantation escape, Legree tries to force Tom into telling him where they went. Tom refuses to disclose there whereabouts, and Legree murders him.