Learn about Black Vermont: the jagged path of civil rights in Vermont

Dateline: January 4, 2012

Barre, Vt. ― On January 16, 2012, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will be commemorated at the Vermont History Center in Barre at 12:00 noon and again at 7:00 pm at the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier.

Author Elise Guyette will talk about the research for her book Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh 1790-1890. This 2011 Richard O. Hathaway award-winning book follows the lives of three generations of free blacks trying to build a life and community in northern Vermont in the years following statehood. In remembrance of Dr. King, Guyette will also discuss the “jagged path” that civil rights has taken in Vermont.

To use Elise’s own words, here is an excerpt from the preface of the book, “The Williams-Freeman story fit so perfectly into the stories we Vermonters tell about ourselves―of being the first state to outlaw slavery in 1777, of heroism on the Underground Railroad and safe houses in every town, and of courageous soldiers in the war to end slavery―this story is of black Americans’ prolonged struggle against oppression.”

These events are free and open to the public thanks to our sponsors Noyle W. Johnson Insurance and Rubin, Kidney, Myer & DeWolfe. This activity is also sponsored by SerVermont. Please call (802) 479-8500 for more information or online at www.vermonthistory.org.