Ann Plato of Hartford: Pioneering Black Writer

Join Capital Community College Professor Antoinette Brim-Bell, author and Connecticut Poet Laureate, explores how author Ann Plato, the first African American writer to publish a collection of essays in 1841, was able to use her publication to become socially mobile.

When scrutinized through a white canonical literary lens or juxtaposed with accepted African American authors, her work is generally criticized for being derivative and of “little literary merit,” rendering Plato a footnote in history. This presentation will explore Ann Plato’s literature against this assessment, situating the publication of essays as a treatise that strategically optimizes the author’s opportunity for social and physical mobility.

This Hartford History Series event is produced in collaboration with Capital Community College.

Join in person at Connecticut’s Old State House, 800 Main Street, Hartford, or online at https://youtu.be/i_661_JUuaM

Please register here: https://bit.ly/2022HHS