Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896), American author and abolitionist, is best remembered for her anti - slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, an anti - slavery novel that angered the South and encouragedanti - slavery forces in the American North. The daughter of a Protestant preacher, Stowe married a widower,Calvin Stowe, in 1836. She wrote many poems, books, and biographical sketches during her career.