Events

Upcoming Events

What Makes a Poet Great?
Sarah Piatt's Rediscovery as the 19th Century's Lost Voice
A presentation by Professor Elizabeth Renker, OSU

Sunday April 15th 4 – 6 pm
Presentation and Reception

An introduction to Piatt, why people haven't heard of her, how she was "found" again in the 1990s, and how she has since become one of the great poets entering curricula and literary history.

Free and Open to the Public
Suggested Donation - $5

Elizabeth Renker is Professor of English at The Ohio State University. She is the author of Realist Poetics in American Culture, 1866-1911 (forthcoming from Oxford, 2018); The Origins of American Literature Studies: An Institutional History (Cambridge, 2007); and Strike Through the Mask: Herman Melville and the Scene of Writing (Johns Hopkins, 1996) and the editor of Poems: A Concise Anthology (Broadview Press, 2016).

Visiting Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Stowe and Friends

Our spring discussion series focuses on two important 19th century figures, Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain, and their personal and literary connections with Harriet Beecher Stowe and the struggle for social justice. We’ll meet the first Wednesday of each month, February through May.

Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 2950 Gilbert Ave.
House opens for tours at 6:00 pm
Discussion begins at 7:00 pm
Discussion Leader - John Getz, PhD. Professor Emeritus, Xavier University

Free and open to the public
Parking available in the rear of House or across Gilbert
Avenue at the African American Chamber of Commerce

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is part of a rich tradition of anti-slavery writing, often by former slaves. The first half of our spring discussion series will focus on Stowe’s personal and literary relationship with Frederick Douglass, author of the best-known slave/freedom narrative. After the Civil War and especially after the end of Reconstruction in 1877, slavery continued to cast its shadow over the U.S., and that shadow also fell on the most famous American author of the time, Mark Twain. The second half of our spring discussion series will examine the personal relationship between Stowe and Twain, and the treatment of slavery and other social issues in Twain’s work

Wednesday, April 4:
Stowe, Twain, and Slavery
Suggested reading: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), chapters 1, 8, 12, 15, 21, 23, 31, 33, 40, 42.

Wednesday, May 2:
The Later Twain, the Beechers, and Social Justice
Suggested reading: Mark Twain, “The Private History of a Campaign that Failed” (1885), “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” (1901), “The United States of Lyncherdom” (1901), “The War Prayer” (1905). These short pieces can easily be found free on line.

All reading selections can be found on line, even Douglass’s Narrative and Huckleberry Finn, which is on the Mark Twain Project website.

Co-Sponsored by:

2018 Semi-Colon Club

The Semi-Colon Club was a literary discussion group Harriet joined while living in Cincinnati. Our Semi-Colon Club resonates with the ideas of discussion about the issues that make up Harriet’s legacy – in the 19th Century and today. Discussions start at noon. Free and open to the public.

March 31, 2018       Additional Date
Video - Not For Ourselves Alone - part 2. Discussion to follow about Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

April 28, 2018
Harriet Tubman, The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton

June 23, 2018
How To Kill A City by Peter Moskowitz

August 25, 2018
Gateway To Freedom, The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by Eric Foner

October 27, 2018
Loves of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Phillip McFarland

Beecher Stowe House Featured:

Read the article about the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in the October edition of AEQUI.
http://aeqai.com/main/2017/10/harriet-beecher-stowe-house-visit-the-past/

National Trust for Historic Preservation. has featured us with “Activists’ Homes That Are Now Centers of Advocacy.”
https://savingplaces.org/guides/actvists-homes-that-are-now-centers-of-advocacy?utm_source=NTHP_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NTHP_eNewsletter-FY18_Oct19#.WeinRWhSyUk
Harriet is in the company of other great activists like Carter G. Woodson, Alice Paul, and Cesar Chavez.

Watch the video produced by the Tennis Channel for the Western Southern Open:
tennischannel.com/featured/destination-tennis/destination-tennis-stowe-house-cincinnati

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Harriet's Birthday on June 11th and our sponsors:
HGC Construction, Kroger and Graeter's.

We are grateful for your support!