What's Language Got to Do With It?

Salons at Stowe

What's Language Got to Do With It?

October 22, 2015

Featured guests Robin McHaelen, Founder and Executive Director of True Colors, and Dr. Evelyn Phillips, Professor of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University led a conversation on the importance and impact of language. Discussion included the use of language in social justice work, language as a marker of identity, and language as a tool to demean or depress. Ms. McHaelen remarked that language can be used as a tool to divide, but also to empower. She described how language has been important for the LGBTQ community in defining and shaping their identities. Professor Phillips described code-switching, when people intentionally change their language for different situations. Participants agreed that language is malleable and changes over time and place.

Inspiration to Action

Think about the language you use every day and the language of those around you
Understand the power of language and the ways language has been used for violence
Call out others for offensive language and why language is important
Support and honor requests about language and labels

Location Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

Doors Open 5-7 PM

Program 5-7 PM

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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Please enter a number from 8 to 40.

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The Stowe Center requires one adult per every 10 students.

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No, thank you.

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

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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:

Name of Primary Contact:(Required)

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

Expected number of visitors:(Required)

Please enter a number from 20 to 42.

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.