Haley: A slave buyer and seller who, in his own words, is a man of humanity and does the best he can to make the slave happy. However, his language is coarse and vulgar and Stowe describes him as a low person with pretensions.
“‘Tan’t, you know, as if it was white folks, that’s brought up in the way of ‘spectin’ to keep their children and wives, and all that. Niggers, you know, that’s fetched up properly, ha’n’t no kind of ‘spectations of no kind; so all these things come easier.”
George Harris: George is Eliza’s husband. A bright and hardworking man he was rented out to a factory where he conceived of a machine to clean hemp. George’s master is the sort who doesn’t like the idea of smart slaves. He believes them dangerous and rebellious. As a result, he removes all George’s privileges and suggests that he marry another woman on his own plantation and give up Eliza. Once he escapes to Canada, George works hard and spends his evenings studying.
“I ain’t a Christian like you, Eliza; my heart’s full of bitterness; I can’t trust in God. Why does he let things be so?”
Chloe: Chloe is Uncle Tom’s wife, a superior cook, and a loving mother. She is afraid that if Tom is sold South he will be killed by hard work or some slave owner.
Mr. Bird: A Senator whose intellect allowed him to vote for the Fugitive Slave Law, which made it a crime to aid run away slaves, but whose principles and emotions give him no choice but to help Eliza escape.
“A pretty kettle of fish it would be for me, too, to be caught with them both here, just now! No; they’ll have to be got off to-night.”
Mrs. Bird: Mrs. Bird is the ‘little wife’of the Senator she becomes strong-willed on the point of slavery and declares that she would welcome the first opportunity to break the Fugitive Slave Law.
“It’s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I’ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do!”
Marie St Claire:The selfish and vain wife of Augustine St Clair. She is cruel to the slaves she owns and does not heed her husband’s desire to free his slaves after he dies.
“‘Now, there’s no way with servants,’ said Marie, ‘but to put them down and keep them down.’”
Topsy: Topsy is the young abused child that St Clair purchases as a gift for Miss Ophelia with intention of showing her what a responsibility it is to train a nigger. Topsy is a model of the stereotypical pickaninny.
"'No; she can't bar me, 'cause I'm a nigger!--she'd 's soon have a toad touch her! There can't nobody love niggers, and niggers can't do nothin'! I don't care.'"
Tom Loker:Slave catcher hired by Haley to recapture George, Eliza, and Harry. George shoots Loker who is then nursed back to health by the Quakers whose treatment of him inspire him to change profession and beliefs.
Cassy: Cassy is a mulatto woman and is Legree’s mistress. She is bitter and slightly mad after having lost all her children to slave system. However, Uncle Tom’s goodness reaches her and she helps nurse him when he is ill. Later she plans an escape for herself and the young mulatto girl that Legree has purchased for his pleasure. Once she reaches Canada, she makes her way to the doorstep of George and Eliza, whom she has discovered is her lost daughter.
“All goes against us, heaven and earth. Everything is pushing us into hell. Why shouldn’t we go?”
Sambo and Quimbo: Sambo and Quimbo are overseers for Legree. The dislike each other intensely and Legree uses their hate to play them off each other and encourage them to new heights of cruelty towards the slaves he places under them. When Tom heroically takes the beating that they give him, they repent and begin to seek after Christ.
“‘Why didn’t I never hear this before?” said Sambo; ‘but I do believe! – I can’t help it! Lord Jesus, have mercy on us!’”
To read more about the character's in Uncle Tom's Cabin, read Stowe's Principal Characters.
Beecher-Stowe, Harriet. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. ISBN 0-394-60527-6
