Uncle Tom’s Cabin began as a series in a Washington, D.C. anti-slavery weekly called National Era in June of 1851.  It quickly became a hit and was released in book form on March 20, 1852. Today is the 157th birthday of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, of one of the nation’s best-selling novels. Listed below are a few web sites to explore in the celebratory spirit of the day.

The past, the present and the future are really one: they are today. –Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
The center preserves and interprets Stowe’s home and “promotes vibrant discussion of her life and work, and inspires commitment to social justice and positive change.” Even if you’re not able to make it to her Hartford, Connecticut home, the web site supplies links to her life, as well as different teacher and student resources.

Civil War Lesson Plans
The Civil War Preservation Trust has a designated section, History Center and Classroom, with various supplementary lesson plans for history teachers to implement. The site includes a lesson plan for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which includes objectives, an introduction, and six activities that help students delve deep into the text.

Listen to the Novel Online
You can listen to John Greenman read Uncle Tom’s Cabin through the Internet Archive site. Each chapter is a separate recording, so you don’t necessarily have to sit down and listen to the entire novel at once.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: “The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretations”
This web site from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee library looks at the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the place of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the American literary canon.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture
This web site from the University of Virginia has three modes:

1. Browse through archived material, everything from pictures to print sources to songs;
2. Search the site’s archived primary documents; and
3. Interpret scholastic essays, timelines, exhibits, and lesson plans.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.