When Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in 1852, feelings on both sides of the national debate over slavery were rising sharply. One reason was the recently passed Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required officials and citizens in free states to cooperate in the capture and return of escaped enslaved persons to their enslavers. Uncle Tom’s Cabin quickly became a best seller on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The book inspired plays and songs, as well as objects like this pair of vases, which were made in France for export. On one of the vases, Eva, the daughter of Uncle Tom’s enslaver, presents Tom with flowers. On the other, Eliza and her son Harry desperately cross the frozen Ohio River, fleeing slave catchers on their way to freedom in Canada, a scene calculated to resonate with contemporary events and emotions. Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin was tremendously popular and influential in its time, it also did much to create long-lasting negative images and stereotypes of Black Americans.