Stowe Center for Literary Activism
77 Forest Street
Hartford, CT 06105
860-522-9258
info@stowecenter.org
The Black Experience Tour highlights narratives and collections that focus on Black History and allows participants to visit multiple local museums for one low price. Join us on one of the scheduled public dates, or contact us to book the experience for your group, adrakes@stowecenter.org or 860.522.9258 x 307
Half Day Tour – Two museums: $30.00 per person
(10 AM tour and 1 PM tour)
Full Day Tour – Three museums: $40.00 per person
(10 AM tour, 1 PM tour, and 2:30 PM tour)
At the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, our Black Perspectives tour emphasizes the Black experience of the 19th century and today. During a guided tour guests will uncover the voices of people of color surrounding Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The Black Perspectives tour uses Stowe’s home and collections to promote vibrant conversations focused on the Black voices that influenced Stowe and the voices that influence positive change today.
At the Connecticut Historical Society, a behind-the-scenes tour of their collections spaces will highlight items that tell the story of black Connecticans, both ordinary and extraordinary, from the 1600s to today. You’ll learn about a Harlem Renaissance writer, Ann Petry, who carefully preserved artifacts chronicling the black community of Saybrook. Examine daguerreotypes by Augustus Washington, who abandoned a successful Hartford photography business to build a new nation in Africa. Browse through the photo album of a Hollywood actress who became a champion of labor rights for black entertainers. Marvel at the gorgeous costumes created by CT’s West Indian community for their annual MAS celebration. And get to know James Pennington, a hero of the anti-slavery movement whose words later became an inspiration for Martin Luther King, Jr.
At the Amistad Center, your tour will focus on how, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African Americans used photography to commemorate important events, but also to express self-dignity and respect. Investigate black identity and imagery, how contemporary social movements started from behind the camera and ways photography help heal a divided community.