ABSTRACT

Formerly enslaved African American Josiah Henson is well-known for his association with the character of Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Published in 1852, the literary phenomenon sold millions of copies throughout the nineteenth century, and also made a hero of Henson, who marketed his connection with the novel to great acclaim. However, Henson’s visit to Britain in 1876–1877, his revised edition of his narrative, and the accompanying book The Young People’s Illustrated Edition of Uncle Tom’s Story of His Life (1877) has received scant attention from scholars. This study will be the first to focus on The Young People’s Edition in detail, and how John Lobb, Henson’s benefactor, marketed Henson and his literary work, which demonstrated not only the struggles Black authors faced in a white supremacist environment, but also how activists like Henson managed to retain some sense of authorship over their work.

摘要

曾被奴役的非裔美国人乔赛亚·汉森因与哈里特·比彻·斯托 (Harriet Beecher Stowe) 的《汤姆叔叔的小屋》 ( Uncle Tom's Cabin) 中的汤姆叔叔 (Uncle Tom) 角色的联系而闻名。这部于 1852 年出版的文学现象在整个 19 世纪售出了数百万册，也成为了汉森的英雄，他将自己与小说的联系推向了高潮。然而，汉森 1876 年至 1877 年对英国的访问、他的叙述的修订版以及随附的《汤姆叔叔生平故事》（1877 年）的年轻人插图版并未受到学者们的关注。这项研究将首先关注青年版 详细介绍了汉森的恩人约翰·洛布如何推销汉森和他的文学作品，这不仅展示了黑人作家在白人至上主义环境中所面临的斗争，而且展示了像汉森这样的活动家如何设法保留对他们作品的作者身份感。