Discovering the "Real" Cabin of Uncle Tom's Cabin

George Stuteville
National Geographic Magazine

February 23, 2005

Every day, thousands of harried commuters, suburban soccer moms in SUVs,
delivery vehicles, rip along Old Georgetown Road in North Bethesda,
Maryland, unaware that near the intersection of the road and Tilden
Lane, they are passing the "real" cabin of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Even if they knew, the thicket of trees and underbrush would make it very difficult to see the privately owned Colonial-style house. And even if they caught a glimpse of the house, the cabin part is hidden away in the back.

But every year, dozens of people—generally local residents of the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area—get in touch with Montgomery County Historic Preservation's Park Historian, Michael Dwyer, to inquire about it.

Of course, Tom, in the powerful 1852 anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a fictional character. But Stowe drew heavily on the real-life experiences of Josiah Henson, a slave who had lived on that 500-acre (200-hectare) Montgomery County plantation for three decades, to create her "Tom."

"The cabin was probably the kitchen for the plantation owner, Isaac Riley," said Dwyer, "Henson probably slept there in the loft."

Describing the kitchen log cabin on the Riley plantation, Henson wrote, "I retired to the kitchen, where my master told me I was to sleep for the night … that crowded room, with its earth floor, its filth and stench. The Negroes present were strangers to me. Full of gloomy reflections at my loneliness and the poverty-stricken aspect of the whole farm, I sat down — thinking how I could escape from the accursed spot."

Henson's description of those sleeping quarters eerily recalls the cramped, dirty subhuman conditions that many of the slaves' ancestors had to bear as captives aboard ships bound for the New World with a cargo hold of people. Read more about those ships at "Last Voyage of the Slave Ship Henrietta Marie" (http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0208/feature4).

It was his rejection of those inequities that ultimately prompted Henson to escape slavery in 1830, fleeing the United States for the freedom and human dignity available to him and other blacks in Canada.

There, Henson was able to become a powerful abolitionist, a writer, and founder of the Dawn settlement and British American Institute, a church and school in Chatham, Ontario, for other former slaves. His sanctuary could never have anticipated the type of leisure and religious communities on the East Coast of the U.S. only a generation later. For more on such a "vacation spot," see "Oak Bluffs, A Corner of Martha's Vineyard Where African-American Roots Run Deep" (http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0306/feature8/).

In 1849 Henson published the first of several memoirs that provided an articulate first-hand account of life as a slave. Stowe gave credit to the volume as an inspiration for her work.

Dwyer, who has served as an historian for 30 years, said that though people are moved by the power of the fictional Uncle Tom, they are awed by Henson's courage and accomplishments in his 94 years of life.

"Over time, there has been a gradual upsurge of awareness of Henson, but in recent years, I have never seen a greater interest in the life of this man," Dwyer said.

As Henson aged, his portrayal of a slave's anguish intensified.

In an 1879 autobiography, Henson told how a master kicked at his mother as she fell on her knees begging him not to separate her from her children.

Recalled Henson: "I heard her sob out, Oh, Lord Jesus, how long, how long shall I suffer this way!' I must have been then between five and six years old. I seem to see and hear my poor weeping mother now. This was one of my earliest observations of men; an experience which I only shared with thousands of my race, the bitterness of which to any individual who suffers it cannot be diminished by the frequency of its recurrence, while it is dark enough to overshadow the whole after- life with something blacker than a funeral pall."

And his portrayal of his father's punishment by plantation overseer exposed slavery for all its violence. Henson wrote: "His cries grew fainter and fainter, till a feeble groan was the only response to his final blows. His head was then thrust against the post, and his right ear fastened to it with a tack; a swift pass of a knife, and the bleeding member was left sticking to the place. Then came a hurrah from the degraded crowd, and the exclamation, That's what he's got for striking a white man.' A few said, it's a damned shame;' but the majority regarded it as but a proper tribute to their offended majesty....," Henson wrote.

Yet, Henson's spirit of freedom wasn't limited only to humankind's ugly side; it carried through to later generations.

It would be interesting to know what he would think of the cultural explosion of music and literature that African-Americans, many of them, the children of slaves, would inspire as shown in the online feature, "Lookin' Good in Harlem (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0104/feature6/), including his own extended family.

Josiah Henson's quest to own himself and take charge of his destiny spilled over to great grandnephew, Matthew Henson. In 1909, it was that Henson who accompanied explorer Robert Peary, and four Inuit, to the North Pole. Henson, whose job was to break trail for Peary, may have actually reached the site first.

Even so, his actions embody Josiah Henson's message that with freedom, determination, and an indomitable spirit, it is possible to stand on top of the world.

Go back to "Uncle Tom" Today: From Slavery to Obscurity?