The Author Who Wrote for Justice. The Man Who Lived the Truth.
Harriet Beecher Stowe took pen in hand to combat the dehumanizing, family destroying system of slavery that built a nation on the backs of human beings kidnapped from their homes.
As a woman in the 19th century, she had little political power, no vote, no public voice, but she had her intellect and her skill as a writer.
She educated herself by reading the freedom narratives of formerly enslaved people, she spoke to people whose lived experiences informed her characters, and she risked her life to write a novel that shook a nation. Stowe was strategic. She told a story sure to grip the hearts of her readers, a story that would provoke tears, outrage, and, most important, action.
At the Stowe Center, we tell the story of Harriet's powerful literary activism and we tell the true stories that inspired her to action—stories that are essential to an empowering American history.
Josiah Henson, the man who inspired the character of Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin, refused to be defined by enslavement. He saved himself and his beloved wife and four children—two of whom he carried 400 miles on his back—built an industrious, education-centered settlement for other freedom seekers in Canada and then went back to free 118 more people.
Tom died to fulfill Stowe's strategic narrative arc to change the hearts and minds of readers who, like Stowe, valued the souls of America and the sanctity of family.
But Josiah Henson LIVED—and continued to work for the freedom, education, and livelihood of his community. He also shared his story in a narrative of great power, a work of literary activism we still read today.
By expanding our storytelling from only Stowe to those who influenced her—Josiah Henson, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and others—the Stowe Center demonstrates that American social justice movements are built on collective action.
Literary Activism is a social justice tradition in America that is built on the awe-inspiring actions of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
2017 Stowe Prize winner Bryan Stevenson said this year: "We dishonor those who came before us if in this moment of crisis we remain silent. I don't think it is just unempathetic. I don't think it is just cowardly. I think it is dishonorable."
The Stowe Center is not silent about dehumanization then or now because Harriet Beecher Stowe did not remain silent.
Josiah Henson did not remain silent. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs did not remain silent.
Millions upon millions of enslaved, dehumanized, brutalized people did not remain silent. Their allies did not remain silent.
Today, we must not remain silent while groups of people are dehumanized, vilified, and scapegoated based on their race, religion, nation of origin, or identity.
None of us can remain silent and retain our humanity and our honor.
We share an empowering message with our audiences of all ages, exemplified by Stowe and Henson—do not remain silent, use your voices, use your strategic and powerful words; take action.
Stowe once wrote: "There is more to be done with the pen than the sword." Social justice through the powerful, peaceful, and transformative use of words—Stowe's, Henson's, Stevenson's, YOURS—reminds us that we are all part of this story together —as people, as families, as dreamers, as workers and strivers, and appreciators of life.
The Stowe Center tells the truth because we believe Americans have the courage to face our history and act with empathy. We know you share that belief, and that together, we can build a more just, compassionate world.
