But then book censorship in the US has a long history. Its most famous early victim was Harriet Beecher Stowe"s 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom"s Cabin. In 1857, a black Ohio man, Sam Green, was "tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years" imprisonment in the penitentiary" for "having in his possession Uncle Tom"s Cabin." It is a twist of history that the book is now more often criticised from the progressive end of the political spectrum, for its stereotypical portrayal of black characters.