Welcome to the conversation!


Welcome to the conversation!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), made her the most famous American woman of the 19th century and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War.

The Stowe Center is a 21st-century museum and program center using Stowe's story to inspire social justice and positive change.

The Salons at Stowe programs are a forum to connect the challenging issues (race, gender and class) that impelled Stowe to write and act with the contemporary face of those same issues. The Salon format is based on a robust level of audience participation, with the explicit goal of promoting civic engagement. Recent topics included: Teaching Acceptance; Is Prison the New Slavery; Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North; Creativity and Change; Race, Gender and Politics Today; How to be an Advocate

This blog will expand the reach of these community conversations to the online audience. Add your posts and comments to keep the conversation going! Commit to action by clicking HERE to stay up to date on Salon and social justice news.

For updates on Stowe Center programs and events, sign up for our enews at http://harrietbeecherstowe.org/email.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

#SalonsAtStowe: Writing about Race with Dr. Jelani Cobb @jelani9

On Thursday, April 30th, the Stowe Center will welcome Dr. Jelani Cobb of the University of Connecticut for a Salon at Stowe program to discuss his recent work surrounding Ferguson, Baltimore, and contemporary racial politics. This Salon serves as a prelude to the 2015 Stowe Prize Jubilee and public program with Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic. Learn more about Dr. Cobb below!

Dr. William Jelani Cobb is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Africana Studies Institute at University of Connecticut where he specializes in post-Civil War African American history, 20th century American politics and the history of the Cold War.

Dr. Cobb is the author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama & the Paradox of Progress (Bloomsbury 2010) and To The Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (NYU Press 2007) which was a finalist for the National Award for Arts Writing. His collection The Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays (Thunder’s Mouth Press) was also published in 2007. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker where he rights about contemporary racial politics. Dr. Cobb recently received the Hillman Foundation Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.  

The Salon begins at 5:00 PM with a social half hour and the program begins at 5:30 PM. 

Check out Dr. Cobb's pieces, including his most recent, "Baltimore and the State of American  Cities" and join in on the discussion!  

How can journalism bring attention to issues of systemic racism, police brutality, and racial equity? How can we integrate writing, a long used tool for social consciousness, with activism? Do writers have the responsibility to raise awareness on issues or events? What do you think? What will you ask Dr. Cobb? Let us know in the comments! 

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