Seizing Liberty

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center presents
Seizing Liberty
The Emancipation Proclamation at 150:
Still Relevant, Still Revolutionary
Fall 2012 – Spring 2013

2013 Events
Please see the ‘Calendar’ page on our website for more detailed information about upcoming programs. All events take place at the Stowe Center unless otherwise noted.

January 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wallace Stevens Theater at The Hartford  
The Abolitionists: Reception, Preview Screening and Talk Back
Panel: Executive Producer Sharon Grimberg and film advisors Joan Hedrick, author of Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life and Lois Brown, Wesleyan University professor of African American Studies specializing in abolitionist narratives

February 6, 5 - 6:30 p.m.
Nook Farm Book Club: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

January 21, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Martin Luther King Day Open House: Free tours all day plus The Child’s Tour at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

February 12, 5 – 7 p.m.
Inspiring Social Justice: Keynote and Panel Discussion at Goodwin College
Keynote:  Christy Coleman, President American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.  Panelists: Katherine Kane, Stowe Center Executive Director; Dr. Gaylynn Moore-Collins, sociology professor, Goodwin College; Howard Wright, Dean of Students, Renbrook  School.  Moderator: Dr. John Walters, Princeton University professor emeritus.

February 14, 5-7 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Re-thinking Beauty: Women, Power and Influence
Guests: Donna Haghighat, www.shoptimize.org and Mala Matacin, University of Hartford

February 21, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Civil Rights: Panel Discussion at Goodwin College
Panelists: Booker DeVaughn, President Emeritus of Three Rivers Community College; Katherine Kane, Stowe Center Executive Director; Randy Laist, English professor, Goodwin College; Gaylynn Moore-Collins, sociology professor, Goodwin College.  Moderator: Dr. John Walters, Princeton University professor emeritus

March 20, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Henry Ward Beecher: Seizing Liberty, A conversation with Debby Applegate The Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher will discuss Stowe’s favorite brother, the famed minister and abolitionist. Beecher’s fame was built on his use of his Brooklyn pulpit to advance the cause of abolition.

March 28, 5 – 7 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Mass Incarceration: Segregation by Another Name
Guests: Maureen Price-Boreland, Community Partners in Action and Aileen Keays, Central Connecticut State University

April 3, 5-6:30 p.m.
Nook Farm Book Talk: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (2013 Stowe Prize Winner)
Book Talk led by Katherine Kane.  Meet Ms. Alexander at the Stowe Prize Big Tent Jubilee on May 30.

April 11, 5-7 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Have We Overcome? The Emancipation Proclamation at 150 and the March on Washington at 50
Guests: Victoria Christgau, Connecticut Center for Nonviolence

April 17, 7-8:30 p.m.
Author Talk and Book Signing: Uncle Tom's Cabin on the American Stage and Screen
John W. Frick, Ph.D., Professor of Theater History and American Studies at University of Virginia

April 20, 1 – 3 p.m.
How to Be an Abolitionist, a workshop.  Modern day slavery takes place all over the world, including in cities and towns throughout the United States. Learn how to recognize and report human trafficking in our communities with presenters: Officer Deborah Scates, Hartford Police Department; Polly Marston, Statewide Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Initiative at the CT Dept. of Children and Families; and Wendy Nelson Kauffman, an award-winning educator and advisor for the Metropolitan Learning Center’s Student Abolitionists Stopping Slavery.  $10/person.

April 25, 5 – 7 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Cultivating Food Justice
Guests: Sarah Thrall, Junior League of Hartford; Gloria McAdam, Foodshare; Jennifer Roach, Summer of Solutions Hartford.  Co-presented with Connecticut Humanities Food for Thought.

April 26-28
Stand Against Racism at the Stowe Center.  Tours, talk-backs and activities in collaboration with YWCA Hartford Region.

May 16, 5-7 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Mental Health: Stigmas, Stereotypes and Solutions
Guests: Harold I. Schwartz, M.D., Institute of Living and Sara Frankel, JD, National Alliance on Mental Illness

May 30, 3 – 9:30 p.m.
2013 Stowe Prize Big Tent Jubilee and Inspiring Action Forum
Stowe Prize presented to Michelle Alexander for The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

June 5, 7-8:30 p.m.
Nook Farm Book Talk/Author Book Signing: The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen.  Meet the author!

June 24  Henry Ward Beecher 200th Birthday
Check out the Beecher-Stowe Trail, a guide to sites connected to Harriet Beecher Stowe and her most celebrated sibling, abolitionist Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

July 25, 5 – 7 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Workshop: Cultural Diversity Awareness
Guest: William A. Howe, Ph.D., New England Conference on Multicultural Education

September 4, 5-6:30 p.m.
Nook Farm Book Talk: The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate.  Discussion led by Katherine Kane.

September 26, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Topic TBD

October 24, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Topic TBD

November 21, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Salon at Stowe: Topic TBD

2012 Events

December 13, 2012 
The Emancipation Proclamation Then and Now
“Abraham Lincoln” reads from the Emancipation Proclamation followed by a panel and audience discussion.  $5 admission
Panel: Howard Wright, Simply Lincoln; Eugene Leach, Trinity College; Booker T. DeVaughn, Connecticut Civil War Commemoration
Commission

November 29, 2012 
Salon at Stowe: Bullied No More
Strategies for taking a stand against bullying — for the bully, the bullied and the bystander.
Guests: Catie Talarski, Co-Producer of the public radio special BULLIED: Teen Stories from Generation PRX; Council Brandon, featured in BULLIED; Tess Domb Sadof, 2012 Student Stowe Prize winner

November 15, 2012 
Salon at Stowe: How to Fight Human Trafficking
How can we combat a problem that exists throughout Connecticut?
Guests: Steven Ferraro, Loving Our Children and Tammy Sneed, Department of Children and Families

October 25, 2012
Salon at Stowe: Can We Talk About Slavery?
Honest conversation across the racial divide with descendants of both slaveholders and slaves.
Guests: Thomas DeWolf and Sharon Morgan, authors of Gather at the Table
 
October 11, 2012
Salon at Stowe: Liberating the Spirit
How does the creative process liberate the spirit and empower self-emancipation?
Guests: Judy Dworin, Judy Dworin Performance Project and Beth Burgess, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

September 27, 2012
Salon at Stowe: Embracing the Emancipated: A Community Response
How can we help political or religious refugees make a successful transition into our communities?
Guests: Rev. John Endler, Central Baptist Church and Homa Nacify, Hartford Public Library