The Matter of Black Lives

December 8, 2021

The Stowe Center is excited to partner with Amistad Center for Art & Culture and The Mark Twain House & Museum to present an in-depth conversation about The Matter of Black Lives, an anthology of groundbreaking writings on race in the United States. Moderated by Kimberly Kersey, Executive Director of Amistad Center, the discussion features editor Jelani Cobb with contributors Doreen St. Félix and Vinson Cunningham.

As told through stories of private triumph and national tragedy once featured in the pages of The New Yorker, the writings of this collection traverse a remarkable breadth of genre, subject, and time. From James Baldwin to Kelefa Sanneh, Toni Morrison to Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Matter of Black Lives reveals the weight of a singular history, and challenges readers to envision the future anew.

Free virtual event with donations split evenly between the Amistad Center, Stowe Center and The Mark Twain House and Museum. Registration is open.

Location Virtual

Doors Open 7:00 PM

Program 7:00 PM

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2024

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Adult Group Interest Form

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

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Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.