Welcome to the conversation!


Welcome to the conversation!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), made her the most famous American woman of the 19th century and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War.

The Stowe Center is a 21st-century museum and program center using Stowe's story to inspire social justice and positive change.

The Salons at Stowe programs are a forum to connect the challenging issues (race, gender and class) that impelled Stowe to write and act with the contemporary face of those same issues. The Salon format is based on a robust level of audience participation, with the explicit goal of promoting civic engagement. Recent topics included: Teaching Acceptance; Is Prison the New Slavery; Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North; Creativity and Change; Race, Gender and Politics Today; How to be an Advocate

This blog will expand the reach of these community conversations to the online audience. Add your posts and comments to keep the conversation going! Commit to action by clicking HERE to stay up to date on Salon and social justice news.

For updates on Stowe Center programs and events, sign up for our enews at http://harrietbeecherstowe.org/email.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Steven Spielberg's "IWitness" project

Film director Steven Spielberg, in conjunction with the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation-The Institute for Visual History and Education, has launched an interactive project called “IWitness,” aimed at raising consciousness of international genocide.  Spielberg, who founded the Shoah Foundation with funds from his Oscar-winning Holocaust film Schindler’s List (1993), has devoted his recent years to interviewing thousands of genocide survivors from all around the world.  “IWitness” is an educational website which features over 1,300 testimonials from survivors of the Holocaust, Cambodian, Armenian, and Rwandan genocides.  The website includes tools to make your own video project, photographs, and an encyclopedia of historical terms. 

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Like Harriet Beecher Stowe who used the media of her time, Spielberg utilizes the media of the 21st century to raise consciousness and promote active, engaged dialogue on issues facing the world.  In what ways can we further use media to increase action and social change?  Unlike Stowe, technology has democratized and globalized media, making it accessible for virtually everyone.  How will you use media tools to promote awareness and leverage this awareness into tangible change?     

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