Maine Historical Society - Programs Podcast

Susanna Ashton; Recorded January 23, 2025 - In December of 1850, a faculty wife in Brunswick, Maine, named Harriet Beecher Stowe hid a fugitive enslaved man in her house. While John Andrew Jackson stayed for only one night, he made a lasting impression: drawing from this experience, Stowe began to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin, one of the most influential books in American history and the novel that helped inspire the overthrow of slavery in the United States. Author Susanna talked about her book A Plausible Man, a historical detective story of Jackson’s remarkable flight from slavery to freedom, his quest to liberate his enslaved family, and his emergence as an international advocate for abolition. Recorded January 23, 2025