Cordelia Howard ( – ) was a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

on the American stage. Her most famous role was as Little Eva in the stage adaptation of ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...

.'' One commentator wrote "The name of Little Cordelia has become synonymous with that of Little Eva." Cordelia Howard was born on in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, the daughter of actor and theatrical producer George C. Howard and actress Caroline Emily Fox Howard. Her first stage role was in 1850, as a fairy sprite in the opera ''

The Mountain Sylph ''The Mountain Sylph'' is an opera in two acts by John Barnett to a libretto by Thomas James Thackeray, after '' Trilby, ou le lutin d'Argail'' by Charles Nodier. It was first produced in London at the Lyceum Theatre in 1834 with great success. ...

.'' She originated the role of Little Eva in George L. Aiken's 1852 stage adaptation of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin,'' with her mother as Topsy and her father as Augustine St. Clare. The play was immensely popular, and Howard starred in Little Eva for hundreds of performances, continuing in the role until she was a teenager. She also starred as Little Dick and Pearl in stage adaptations of ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

'' and ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...

,'' as well as the title character in the

temperance play The Temperance movement in the United States is a movement to curb the consumption of alcohol. It had a large influence on American politics and American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, culminating in the prohibition of alco ...

''Little Katy; or, The Hot Corn Girl.'' In 1871, she married Edmund Jesse Macdonald, a bookbinder, and retired from the stage. Cordelia Howard died on 8 August 1941 in

Bourne, Massachusetts Bourne ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Bourne, please see the articles on Bourne (CDP), Bu ...

References

External links

*
Memoirs of the Original Little Eva"
by Cordelia Howard MacDonald {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Cordelia Created via preloaddraft 1848 births 1941 deaths American stage actresses