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.

Friday, April 24, 2015

#WorldBookDay

April 23rd marks World Book and Copyright Day, an annual celebration highlighting the power of books to change thoughts, lives, and communities at large. World Book and Copyright Day is sponsored by the United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO recognizes both the personal and political power of the book as a force to spread cultural awareness, shared history, and new ideas. UNESCO writes:

As global symbols of social progress, books – learning and reading -- have become targets for those who denigrate culture and education, who reject dialogue and tolerance. In recent months, we have seen attacks on children at school and the public burning of books. In this context, our duty is clear – we must redouble efforts to promote the book, the pen, the computer, along with all forms of reading and writing, in order to fight illiteracy and poverty, to build sustainable societies, to strengthen the foundations of peace. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin changed the ways in which white Americans viewed slavery and galvanized a generation to join the abolition movement.  Uncle Tom's Cabin serves as an example of the potential books have to alter the discourse around certain issues and motivate individuals to action. 

What books have changed your mind on an issue? What books do you regards as being socially and politically important? What power do you think books hold? Let us know!

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