The 1852 publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a momentous affair. The book would soon become a best-selling phenomenon, sparking many reactions and translations as it echoed the ongoing debate on slavery in the West. Portugal was no exception: in 1853 alone, five translations of the work were printed, either in serial or book form. The interest would, however, soon be followed by silence, and retranslations of the novel would only start to be published again in the 1930s. This paper aims to shed some light on the fate of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Portugal, by raising and (provisionally) answering a cluster of interrelated questions: who were the translators; what was the agenda behind each translated text; how were the texts received, and what effects did they have in the target culture? Reading Stowe in Portuguese may offer a better understanding of the meanders of translation in Portugal, thus effectively questioning the literary canon and contributing to a more inclusive geography of memory.