Part I: A Conversation with 2020 Stowe Prize winner Albert Woodfox & Mayor Ras Baraka is a professionally recorded broadcast Sunday, June 21 – October 15
Dawn to Dusk
Solitary Garden
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Gardens
77 Forest Street, Hartford
View at your leisure
Wednesday, September 23
Premieres at 7:00 pm
Part I: A Conversation with Albert Woodfox & Mayor Ras Baraka
Available through October 4
Sunday, October 4
7:00 – 8:30 pm
Part II: A Live Experience with Albert Woodfox, Ras Baraka, Samaia Hernandez
Submit your question to be aired live
Albert Woodfox, known as one of the Angola Three, spent four decades in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit. In Solitary, he shares not only how he survived his ordeal, but also how he was able to inspire his fellow prisoners – and now all of us – with his humanity and devoted activism.
Albert’s ability to emerge whole from his journey within America’s prison and judicial systems is a triumph of the human spirit and makes his book a clarion call to reform the inhumanity of solitary confinement. Remarkably self-aware that anger or bitterness would have destroyed him in solitary confinement, and sustained by the shared solidarity of two fellow Black Panthers, Albert turned his anger into activism and resistance.
The Angola Three resolved never to be broken by the grinding inhumanity and corruption that effectively held them for decades as political prisoners. Woodfox survived to give us Solitary, a chronicle of rare power and humanity that proves the better spirits of our nature can thrive against any odds.
Woodfox was born in 1947 in New Orleans. A committed activist in prison, he remains so today and speaks to a wide array of audiences, including the Innocence Project, Harvard, Yale, the National Lawyers Guild, and at Amnesty International events in London, Paris, Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium.
The Stowe Prize recognizes the author of a distinguished book of general adult fiction or nonfiction whose written work illuminates a critical social issue in the tradition of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The winning book applies informed inquiry, is accessible and engaging to a wide audience, and promotes empathy and understanding. In making this award, the Stowe Center recognizes the value of diversity to strengthen our communities.
Author of the international best-selling novel of the 19th century, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe’s words and actions remain relevant today. Stowe believed her purpose in life was to write, and her most famous work exposed the truth about the greatest injustice of her day – human slavery.
Albert Woodfox is the seventh recipient of the Stowe Prize, following Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in 2011 for Half the Sky, Michelle Alexander in 2013 for The New Jim Crow, Ta-Nehisi Coates in 2015 for The Case for Reparations, Bryan Stevenson in 2017 for Just Mercy, and Matthew Desmond in 2018 for Evicted.
Stowe Prize 2020 Selection Committee
Cheryl Greenberg, Ph.D.
Joan Hedrick, Ph.D.
Patricia Hill, Ph.D.
Jared Jeter
Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, Ph.D.
Robert Roggeveen
Barbara Sicherman, Ph.D.
Mary Ellen White
Stowe Prize 2020 Event Committee
Carolyn Treiss, Chair
Susan Dunn
Carrie Hammond
Samaia Hernandez
Joan Hurwit
Jeanna Grimes Ogbar
Christine Palm
I ordered the Experience Solitary package. What can I expect?
Packages are shipped within two business days of your order.
I ordered the Stowe Prize in Place package for one/two/four. What can I expect?
A package containing your copy(ies) of Solitary ship within two business days of your order via USPS priority mail. During checkout, you will select your meal choices. Delivery on Sunday, October 4th to your door is free.
I am a Stowe Prize in Place sponsor. What can I expect?
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center staff will be in touch with you about your packages and sponsor benefit details.
I ordered the Stowe Prize in Place Out of Towner package. What can I expect?
Your package will ship via USPS Priority Mail on Thursday, September 24.
I live in the greater Hartford area. Can I order the Out of Towner?
Of course!
Can I order a package as a gift for someone?
Yes! When you check out, select the “This is a gift” option and enter delivery details.
What is the delivery zone for the fresh packages?
Delivery is within a 50-mile radius of the Pond House.
If I order a package for two or more, do I have to host family and friends to watch, participate, eat and drink?
That’s entirely up to you! Host guests at your home or split a package with friends and watch alone.
How do I watch Part I: A Conversation with Albert Woodfox and Ras Baraka?
Part I is available to view now through October 4th.
How do I participate in the live Q + A?
First, watch Part I. Once you’ve done that, you can submit your questions to us.
How can I see the Solitary Garden ?
The Stowe Center landscape is open to the public daily between dusk and dawn; you can visit at your leisure.
