The Stowe Prize Series is a public program series that extends the values of the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism—engaging bold writing, urgent social questions, and the ongoing work of literary activism—through conversation and community dialogue.

This year, we’re placing two powerful works in conversation: the recently discovered Phillips Manuscript, which traces the life of William H. Phillips, and Percival Everett’s award-winning novel James. The manuscript—on view at each gathering—follows Phillips from his birth into slavery in Virginia in 1841 to his leadership at Shiloh Baptist Church, illuminating the resilience, intellect, and faith that shaped Black life before and after emancipation. In conversation with James, which reimagines Huck Finn through Jim’s perspective, these works invite us to consider a central question: what role does storytelling play in shaping how we understand history—and our present moment?

About the Speakers

Lincoln Hirn is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at University of Connecticut, where he studies the literary memory of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. He is currently conducting a survey of the Stowe Center’s archival holdings, examining the trans-metropolitan activist networks that connected the Hookers to the Phillips family and to broader movements for reform, philanthropy, and literary patronage. His doctoral dissertation charts the evolution of the slave narrative as a literary form across the postbellum period. His nonfiction writing has appeared in Nineteenth Century Studies Journal, while his fiction has appeared in Across the Margin, Review Americana, and L’Esprit Literary Review.

Camesha Scruggs, professor at Central Connecticut State University, will facilitate a conversation about the manuscript and our Stowe Prize–winning novel, James, guiding us in reflecting together on the themes and questions these works raise.