The Stowe Center for Literary Activism in Hartford is rethinking how they present the complex legacy of author Harriet Beecher Stowe and her best known work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Today, Erika Slocumb, Director of Interpretation and Visitor Experience at the Stowe Center joins us to talk about the changes this local museum is making to better showcase literary activism of the past, and how it influences the future.
We’ll also hear from Possible Futures, an independent bookstore and neighborhood bookspace in New Haven. We learn about their efforts to promote works by diverse authors, and using books to promote change.
Books recommended by our guests:
- The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada by Josiah Henson
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
- Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson (recommended for younger readers)
- The Parable Series by Octavia E. Butler
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing (to be released 2/11/25)
GUESTS:
- Erika Slocumb: Director of Interpretation and Visitor Experience at the Stowe Center for Literary Activism in Hartford
- Grégory Pierrot: Associate Professor at the English Department at the University of Connecticut
- Lauren Anderson: founder and bookseller at Possible Futures independent bookstore in New Haven
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