“Inspiring Stowe: The Real Josiah Henson”
The staff of the Stowe Center for Literary Activism in Hartford, Connecticut is excited to present “Inspiring Stowe: The Real Josiah Henson.” This historical talk, modeled on the interactive historical tour experience we share at our museum, will explore the life and writing of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe is best known for authoring Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), a complex and controversial anti-slavery novel that had a massive impact on American history and culture. What made Stowe, a white woman from Connecticut, pick up her pen at age 39 and begin work on a piece of anti-slavery fiction? We’ll learn about Harriet’s childhood, her adult years in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the sources she drew on to craft and corroborate the events of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a work that went to be the best-selling novel of the entire 19th century. 
We’ll also use Stowe’s life as a jumping off point to tell a larger, more inclusive story about the U.S. abolitionist movement, exploring the influence of Black activists, storytellers, and enslavement survivors on Stowe’s views and anti-slavery writing. We’ll pay particular attention to the life and advocacy of Josiah Henson, the 19th-century Black abolitionist who became the major source of inspiration for the titular character of Tom in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Throughout, we’ll consider the role of art, literature, and truthful storytelling in inspiring social change, past and present.

About the Stowe Center for Literary Activism: Located at the site of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s last home in Hartford, Connecticut, the Stowe Center opened to the public in 1968 as one of the earliest historic house museums focused on women’s history and Black history in the United States. For the ensuing 50 years, we have stayed on the leading edge of historic house interpretation, debuting an immersive social justice tour of the house in 2017. Our goal now is to bring the Stowe Center into the 21st century by focusing on relevance, civic engagement, and social justice through activism in concert with our many communities.
About the speaker: Brenna Harvey is an Education Coordinator at the Stowe Center for Literary Activism, where they help research and craft immersive, interactive historical experiences for a wide variety of audiences. They hold an M.A. in sociology from the University of Connecticut and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Southern Connecticut State University. They began working at the Stowe Center in 2021, where they were drawn to the Center’s social justice mission and status as the first museum with a unionized frontline staff in Connecticut history. In addition to their historical research and public museum work, they also serve on the museum’s Labor Management Committee.