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.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The #NewJimCrow: 2014 Stats on Mass Incarceration in the U.S.

The Southern Poverty Law Center complied a set of 18 info-graphics detailing the most startling and important facts on mass incarceration in the United States. The facts were derived from two reports- "The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences" by the National Academy of Sciences (2014) and "Prisoners in 2013," by the U.S. Department of Justice (2014).



The info-graphics detail the following statistics among others:

-2.2. million: The number of individuals incarcerated in the U.S.

-African Americans are incarcerated at 6 times the rate of white individuals

-Black males aged 18 to 19 are 9 times more likely to be arrested than their white peers

-Though black and white individuals engage in drug use at roughly the same rate, black individuals are 3 to 5 times more likely to be arrested

-49,100: The number of individuals incarcerated for minor drug offenses

-About 3% of all U.S. children have incarcerated fathers


Which facts surprised you? Why? Do you think society at large is aware of these statistics and the high rate of incarceration in the U.S.? How does mass incarceration impact other social institutions like housing, education, and health care?
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