Meredith Calhoun

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Meredith Calhoun (1805 – March 14, 1869) was a slave-owner, planter, merchant, and journalist, known for owning some of the largest slave plantations in the Red River area north of Alexandria, Louisiana. Calhoun played a major role in the interregional slave trade of the American South, acting as a broker for the purchase and sale of thousands of slaves.[1]

There have been reports dating to the 19th century that Harriet Beecher Stowe based the character of Simon Legree in Uncle Tom's Cabin on Calhoun.[2][3] Legree was depicted as a cruel slave owner and the character's name has become synonymous with greed and cruelty.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ Keith, Leeanna (2008). The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, & The Death of Reconstruction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 5–20.
  2. ^ "Reconstructing Reconstruction" by Eric Foner, The Washington Post, March 30, 2008, Page E03.
  3. ^ J. E. Dunn (August 31, 1896). "About Uncle Tom's Cabin: A Louisianian Says Meredith Calhoun Was Not a Model for Legree". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
  4. ^ A Study Guide for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Gale, 2015.
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