according to stowe, she began thinking about "uncle tom's cabin; or, life among the lowly" as she was in a church in february 1851. she had a vision of a christian black man being beaten and praying for the people who were beating him as he died. she was also partly inspired to write her novel by the autobiography of josiah henson. henson was a black man who had run away and helped many black slaves. she was also helped by the book "american slavery as it is: testimony of a thousand witnesses" by theodore dwight weld and the grimké sisters. stowe also said that she got lots of ideas for uncle tom's cabin by talking to runaway slaves when she was living in cincinnati, ohio.