Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a novel by Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe. The US author wrote it in 1851. In the early 1800s, black people were not free in the US. They were slaves (奴隶). Uncle Tom was a black slave. He worked for Master Shelby. Many masters (主人) were terrible to their slaves. But Master Shelby was kind. However, something bad happened and it changed Tom’s life forever. What was it? Let’s find out in the following passage.