Grades 7 – 10: Unit 1 Connecticut’s First Lady of Literature
Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of America’s most famous writers. She was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut, and lived in Hartford for much of her life. She published more than 30 books, but it was her best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin which catapulted her to international celebrity and secured her place in history.
Harriet Elizabeth Beecher was the sixth child born to Lyman Beecher and Roxana Foote Beecher. Her father was a minister who taught his children the importance of civic engagement while her mother was an avid reader and life-long learner. Stowe and her siblings were raised to believe that they had a responsibility to improve the United States. Her seven brothers all became ministers and were proponents of abolition or anti-slavery movements. Her three sisters were proponents of female education and women’s rights.
Harriet’s formal education began early. She studied at the Litchfield Female Academy and then the Hartford Female Seminary, a school her sister Catharine started. There, she practiced writing, learning to compose essays. At 16, Harriet was teaching at her sister’s school.
From 1832 to 1850, Harriet lived in Cincinnati, Ohio where her father was president of Lane Theological Seminary. Here she continued to write, using her powers of observation and vivid imagination. Writing allowed her to express her thoughts and beliefs publicly during a time when women were not allowed to vote or hold office. In Ohio, she saw first-hand the workings of the institution of slavery and the public controversy surrounding it. Harriet watched the national debate and grew increasingly outraged at the injustice of slavery. She took up her pen to “… make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is.”
In 1851, Uncle Tom’s Cabin first appeared as a serial in The National Era, an abolitionist newspaper. The story was published weekly over 10 months, each installment left readers eager for the next one. In 1852, it was published as a book and became a best seller: within days: 10,000 copies were sold and by year end worldwide sales reached 1.5 million., Stowe’s story, ultimately translated into more than 60 languages, changed the way many thought about slavery, and influenced the abolition movement leading up to the Civil War. Uncle Tom’s Cabin made Stowe the most famous American woman of the 19th century. Her words changed the world.
Download our “Harriet Beecher Stowe” worksheet from the “Grades 7 -10: Unit 1 Worksheets” post and find more information about Stowe on the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center website at http://www.harrietbeecherstowe.org
This article corresponds with Let Your Words Change the Word: A Bicentennial Celebration of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Unit 1 curriculum for grades 7 – 10. Lessons are published weekly in the Hartford Courant from January 26 – February 16. To sign up or to find out more information, please contact Julia Baldini, Program Coordinator at jbaldini@stowecenter.org
Mandatory Voting Exercise
Harriet Beecher Stowe and her siblings learned from an early age the importance of participation and helping to shape America through civic engagement. Stowe’s father, Lyman Beecher, encouraged his family to actively participate in politics and often led the family in debates on important issues of the day. While the right to vote was not guaranteed to most citizens during Stowe’s life, today few restrictions prohibit Americans from participating in a democracy by voting.
Unfortunately, America has a poor voter turnout. In the last Presidential election, in 2008, only 64% of voting age citizens voted, a higher percentage than the last three presidential elections.[1] One suggestion that has been made repeatedly over the last several decades is imposing mandatory voting laws. Meaning voting wouldn’t just be a privilege that you could choose to exercise, but a requirement of citizenship, a law that could be punishable if not fulfilled.
These two articles explore the pros and cons of this idea. Read through each article carefully. Highlight all the facts and underline all the opinions.
While you’re reading, think about these questions.
- What is the writer’s main argument for or against mandatory voting laws?
- What evidence or support do they give?
- What other solutions does the author provide?
Afterwards, write a short, one page argument for or against mandatory voting. Site from these two articles and make your voice clear.
Article 1 Mandatory Voting Can Lead to a Range of Problems
In this viewpoint, Maria Gratschew analyzes the problems with mandatory voting, including the assertion that compulsory voting leads to a higher number of random votes and flawed ballots. She argues that mandatory elections are expensive due to higher turnout and enforcement.
Article 2 Vote – Or Else, Editorial
In this viewpoint, Norman Ornstein discusses voter turnout and the outcome of the 2006 Connecticut Primary election between political newcomer Ned Lemont and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman. He sites successes with Australia’s voting laws and offers suggestions for ways to improve not only voter turnout, but political discussions in America.
[1] Crissy, Sarah and File, Thom. “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008”. US Department of Commerce. May 2010. <http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p20-562.pdf>
This activity corresponds with Let Your Words Change the World: A Bicentennial Celebration of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Unit 1 curriculum for grades 7 – 10. Lessons are published weekly in the Hartford Courant from January 26 – February 16. To sign up or to find out more information, please contact Julia Baldini, Program Coordinator at jbaldini@stowecenter.org
Grades 7 – 10: Unit 1 Worksheets
Harriet Beecher Stowe Worksheet
Civic Engagement 101 Worksheet
These worksheets correspond with Let Your Words Change the World: A Bicentennial Celebration of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Unit 1 curriculum for grades 7 – 10. Lessons are published weekly in the Hartford Courant from January 26 – February 16. To sign up or to find out more information, please contact Julia Baldini, Program Coordinator at jbaldini@stowecenter.org
FREE Field Trips!
Teachers and classrooms signed up for the Let Your Words Change the World curriculum can take advantage of a FREE field trip to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut! Contact Program Coordinator, Julia Baldini for more information. jbaldini@stowecenter.org
Grade 4 – 6: Unit 3 Stop Bullying Now!
Stop Bullying Now! is a website where students can learn all about bullying and what you can do to end it. In this activity, students will explore this website and find ways to combine art and the internet to bring more attention to their issues that are important to them. Download our Stop Bullying Now! Worksheet from the Grades 4 – 6: Unit 3 Worksheets post and visit the Stop Bullying Now! website http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/.
Grades 4 – 6: Unit 3 Paint With A Purpose
Review your list of important social issues you’d like to change, from the last unit’s activities, and pick one that you’d like to bring more attention to. Using paints, crayons or colored pencils, create a buttons, stickers or posters that raises awareness of the issue. Share your creations with other students to help spread the word. For example, if your issue was helping the environment, you could create posters that encourage people to recycle and get permission to hang them up all over your school.
Grades 4 – 6: Unit 3 My Words Are My Paintings
Pick a spot inside your classroom or outside your school or home. With a pad of paper and a pencil, sit on the ground and pick a focal point and write down five descriptive words based on what is in your direct line of sight. Repeat this activity at the same spot at a kneeling height and finally standing. After you have your collection of words, write a short story or poem about your spot using all the words you wrote.
Grades 4 – 6: Unit 3 My Inspiration
As a class, brainstorm, and give examples of different kinds of art used to communicate messages. Then discuss what it means to be inspired, and working individually, think about what inspires you. Using watercolor or acrylic paints and paper, paint something that inspires you.
Grades 4 – 6: Unit 3 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Artist
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote to entertain and inspire action. However, writing wasn’t her only interest; Harriet was also a painter. While Harriet painted for enjoyment, she often used her brush and artistic vision to enhance her writing, and to raise money for causes that were important to her.
Harriet Beecher first took up drawing while attending school in Litchfield, Connecticut at Sarah Pierce’s Female Academy. At the school, young ladies studied the arts through courses in map-drawing, painting and embroidery. At thirteen, Harriet became a student at her sister Catharine’s school, the Hartford Female Seminary. There, in addition to classes in literature, mathematics and the sciences, she studied drawing. Later, Harriet became a teacher at the school and considered a career teaching art. Harriet blended her love of writing and drawing in her adult life.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous books, including textbooks and children’s stories before beginning Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1851. She frequently suggested illustrations for her works of fiction. Stowe understood the power of images to convey ideas. In writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she showed her readers the evils of slavery by using her words to paint graphic images of slavery that were based on fact. Stowe talked to many people and did lots of research so her words could paint a picture for her readers. She even wrote to the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass for information about plantation life to be sure she created realistic imagery. Writing in this descriptive style, Stowe made Uncle Tom’s Cabin a more powerful book, which allowed readers to better understand the lives of enslaved people.
Stowe also found other ways to use art to correct social injustices. Following the Civil War, many people that had been enslaved struggled to adjust to being free. Stowe donated her paintings to help raise funds for a church in Florida (where she lived during the cold New England winters), to address these community needs. Back in Hartford, Stowe helped establish the Hartford Art School, which eventually became part of the University of Hartford.
Stowe used her love of art to create positive change. What will you do with your talent?
This article corresponds with Let Your Words Change the Word: A Bicentennial Celebration of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Unit 3 curriculum for grades 4 – 6. Lessons are published weekly in the Hartford Courant from January 5 – 19. To sign up or to find out more information, please contact Julia Baldini, Program Coordinator at jbaldini@stowecenter.org
Grades 4 – 6: Unit 3 Worksheets
These worksheets correspond with Let Your Words Change the World: A Bicentennial Celebration of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Unit 3 curriculum for grades 4 – 6. Lessons are published weekly in the Hartford Courant from January 5 – 19. To sign up or to find out more information, please contact Julia Baldini, Program Coordinator at jbaldini@stowecenter.org
Stowe Students 