Bowdoin College professor Tess Chakkalakal, a scholar of 19th-century African American and American literature, met with Loomis Chaffee student writers and with the College-Level Civil War Seminar during a two-day visit to campus this week. 

Ms. Chakkalakal teaches a course at Bowdoin on Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which also was the focus of her dissertation, and on Monday, April 20, Ms. Chakkalakal engaged the Civil War Seminar students in a spirited discussion of the anti-slavery novel. The previous evening, she was the guest at a Dinner and a Draft, where creatives discuss their work, for students and faculty on campus.  

In addition to her work at Bowdoin, Ms. Chakkalakal has published widely about her area of literary expertise; serves on the Board of Directors of the Stowe Center in Hartford, Conn.; and co-hosts the podcast 'Dead Writers," in which she and novelist Brock Clarke “bring great American writers, and the books they wrote, back from the dead.” Her visit to campus was hosted by Writing Initiatives; the History, Philosophy & Religious Studies Department; the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies; and the Norton Family Center for the Common Good. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a home that sits on the Bowdoin campus. The author and her family lived in the house from 1850 to 1852. Today, the building is owned by Bowdoin and houses faculty offices and “Harriet’s Writing Room,” which commemorates her contributions to American literature and history. Ms. Chakkalakal played a lead role in the creation of the writer’s room. Research by Ms. Chakkalakal also revealed that Ms. Stowe had harbored a runaway slave in the house that is designated a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site. 

“Literature, in my view, should not just be one-sided,” Ms. Chakkalakal said to the seminar students. “If it presents only one side, it is just propaganda. ... And what is interesting about novels, and why we read novels, is because we need multiple perspectives and perspectives you might not otherwise access. [Harriett Beecher Stowe] wrote this novel because she wanted to show people, and have empathy for, multiple perspectives ... to get the North to understand the South's perspective and the South to understand the North’s perspective. Once we start having empathy for other people’s perspectives, you might be willing to either change your mind or see it from another point of view. And that might allow us to move forward.”     

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in 1852. The Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. A story, likely apocryphal, is told about President Abraham Lincoln meeting Stowe at the start of the Civil War and declaring, "So this is the little lady who started this great war."  

Ms. Chakkalakal said that Stowe “actually thought by writing the novel we would avoid war, so that must have been very disappointing for her.”  

There was political polarization back then just as there is today. The present-day polarization is connected in significant ways to what people choose to read today, Ms. Chakkalakal said. 

“One of the reasons I think our divisions are so deep right now is we don’t read enough,” she said. “I think we’re just not interested in the other side. All we’re reading is what is on our phone, whatever our news feeds tells us ... whatever newspaper you subscribe to if you subscribe to a newspaper.”  

Ms. Chakkalakal went on to say, “Without reading the other side, it is hard to sympathize with the other side and actually make an argument to persuade the other side.”  

As one student said, we fall into the trap of wanting our ideas to be reinforced and validated. Or, as another student noted, whatever point of view you may read or listen to, algorithms will supply more. “There are no algorithms in a book,” he said.  

After the class, Ms. Chakkalakal said she was impressed with the students’ participation and comments. “I learned from them,” she said.  

Whether she is teaching at Bowdoin or having a conversation with students elsewhere, she said it “is always nice to see how students react to a time before their own and connect to the past. The most important thing is conversation. One of the things we talked about today — how do you get out of your echo chamber loop of wanting to hear yourself affirmed? Until you can say that out loud, you can’t change that. ... When you admit that, then you can go out and look for different sources that don’t just tell you what you want to hear.”