What Makes a Family?

Salons at Stowe

What Makes a Family?

May 21, 2015

Dr. Elizabeth Rose, Library Director at the Fairfield Museum and History Center, and Anne Stanback, Director of State and National Partnerships for the Equality Federation, led a discussion on the meaning of family and the implications that varying definitions have for rights, and equality. They talked about the constantly changing ideas of marriage, its public and private roles, and the ties marriage has with government and religious authority. Participants discussed progress toward marriage equality and problems with and alternatives to the nuclear family.

Inspiration to Action

Educate yourself on the history behind marriage and family
Learn about the marriage equality movement
Advocate for approaches to family advocacy that recognize the impact of race, sexuality, gender, and income on families and family structure
Advocate for shared housing and fair zoning policies

Location Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

Doors Open 5 - 7 PM

Program 5 - 7 PM

Apr 24

Literary Activism Locked Up

Salons at Stowe

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School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2023

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

School name:

Please suggest three dates and times when your group would like to visit. (Note: the Stowe Center is closed on Sunday and Tuesday.)

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The Stowe Center requires one adult per every 10 students.

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If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Adult Group Interest Form

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

Group Name:

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What date would you like to visit? (The Stowe Center typically books group tours for Thursday through Sunday visits.)

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Please indicate the number of adults, seniors, and children expected in your group:

Are there special accommodations that can help us serve you best?

Are you interested in a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.