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Changing History


A Visit from the Old Mistress Author Harriet Beecher Stowe published her antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin 150 years ago today.

Within days of its release, the first printing had sold out, and within the first year it had sold 300,000 copies in the United States. Stowe's book is credited with increasing abolitionist sentiment and fueling the Civil War.

Today's artwork by Winslow Homer, Visit from the Old Mistress, explores changes in race relations after the Civil War. In this imaginary scene, a Southern white woman meets her former slaves in a tense moment. She is now in their territory. Will the black women welcome her? Will the mistress respect their humanity and independence? Even though the painting depicts one moment in time, it poses some of the same questions that Southerners faced throughout the Reconstruction period.

Pictured: Winslow Homer, 1836–1910, A Visit from the Old Mistress, 1876, oil, 18 x 24 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William T. Evans.