Meet Harriet Beecher Stowe at Cumberland County Library

    On Saturday, September 6, at 2pm, the Cumberland County Library in Bridgeton, NJ will host a free public program, “Harriet Beecher Stowe: Never Give Up.” Scholar and actor Kim Hanley will portray Harriet Beecher Stowe in an hour-long performance including time for questions and answers from the audience. This program is appropriate for audiences from grade 5 to adult.

    In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published her novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly”. This empathetic depiction of life for African Americans under slavery reached millions in the United States and the United Kingdom. The emotionally –charged stories of Uncle Tom, Eliza, and Little Eva helped move the conscience of the country to the great and imperative cause of Abolitionism. It energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the pro-slavery South. It is alleged that when she met Abraham Lincoln, he told her “So you are the little woman that wrote the book that started this great war.” Harriet went on to publish over 20 novels as well as travel memoirs, home-life guides, letters and essays, becoming one of the most widely published authors in American history.

    Kim Hanley began interpreting with American Historical Theatre in 1997. Ms. Hanley has appeared in venues that include the White House Visitors Center, National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, Frazier Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Franklin Institute, Liberty Museum, Constitution Center, Independence Visitors Center, and libraries throughout New Jersey and the greater Philadelphia area.

    The program is funded by the Horizons Speakers bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

    Cumberland County Library is located at 800 East Commerce Street in Bridgeton, NJ, 08302. For more information, please call (856) 453-2210, ext. 103. For more information about the Horizons Speakers Bureau please visit http://njch.org/programs/hsb/.