Vermont Autumn 2018 Humanities

Inside • Welcome to VHC’s  New Executive Director page 2  •  Vermont Reads 2019 Announced / page 3 •  Calendar of Events pages 6 –10 •  First Wednesdays Preview / page 9 •  Humanities Camps page 11 VERMONT READS 2019

Fall Conference: The Ebb and Flow of Optimism through American History pages 12–15 M by John Lewis,ar Andrew Aydin,ch and Nate Powell See page 3 Vermont Humanities Welcome to Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup Newsletter of the Vermont Humanities Council hristopher Kaufman Ilstrup joined the Vermont Humanities Council as its new Editor: Ryan Newswanger C Executive Director on August 27. He worked Vermont Humanities Council most recently as the Chief Operating Officer Because Ideas Matter at VTDigger, and was a Senior Philanthropic 11 Loomis Street Advisor at the Vermont Community Montpelier, Vermont 05602 Foundation for ten years. Phone: 802.262.2626 • Fax: 802.262.2620 Christopher grew up in Vergennes and E-mail: [email protected] earned a BA from Kenyon College and a Web: vermonthumanities.org Master of Science in Development Studies Staff from the London School of Economics Joan M. Black, Administrative Assistant and Political Science. He recently sat 802.262.1358, [email protected] down with Ryan Newswanger, Director Jeff Euber, Program and Communications Coordinator of Communications, to talk about his 802.262.1353, [email protected] new position. Richelle Franzoni, Community Programs Assistant Do you see a common thread in the positions you’ve held? 802.262.1355, [email protected] Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup, Executive Director My work has always been about building communities and helping people 802.262.1351, [email protected] talk to one another across differences. Healthy and vital Vermont communities Ryan Newswanger, Director of Communications was our goal at the Community Foundation and I think that’s been a goal 802.262.1354, [email protected] for me in all my work. Ali Palmer, Director of Literacy Programs 802.262.1352, What drew you to the Council and its mission? [email protected] One of the things that has really impressed me about the Council is the way Tess Taylor, Director of Community Programs 802.262.1356, [email protected] that it truly believes in and supports humanities work in the smallest of the Ali White, First Wednesdays Director, Consultant small towns. It’s not just something that is for the bigger towns, or the towns [email protected] with universities or colleges. It is work that needs to happen all over. Linda Winter, Chief Financial Officer What do you look forward to the most in starting this job? 802.262.1359, [email protected] Getting to know new people is always a real joy for me. I’m looking forward Linda Wrazen, Development Officer to meeting and talking with the passionate people who have supported this 802.262.1357, [email protected] organization for 40 years, and hearing what they’re interested in for our next Board iteration. There have only been two directors of the Vermont Humanities Katy Smith Abbott, Middlebury Council. And they’ve both been amazing. To see what comes next will be Jim Alic, Ludlow, Treasurer really exciting. Randall Balmer, Norwich Jane Beck, Middlebury Can you provide any hints of the direction VHC may take? Todd Daloz, Middlesex We have strong programs that we want to continue, and that we want to make Rolf Diamant, Woodstock, Chair sure are being nurtured and supported. But we will see how we can be present Sarah Dopp, South Burlington, Secretary in even more communities, whether they’re the Old North End of Burlington, Ben Doyle, Montpelier Joy Facos, Montpelier or Island Pond in the Northeast Kingdom. Elizabeth Fenton, Essex Junction We do a lot of great work using diverse literature in our programming. Carole Gaddis, Putney The last several Vermont Reads books have focused on diverse communities and Huck Gutman, Burlington people whose stories aren’t normally told. It’d be great if we were also engaging Christine Hadsel, Burlington David Moats, Salisbury more directly with diverse communities in Vermont—with Abenaki leaders, new David Nichols, Manchester Americans, and the migrant farm worker community, for example. Mary Otto, Norwich, Vice Chair On a practical level, I would like us to focus on raising more money for Geoffrey Sewake, Peacham grant-making. We’ve funded a lot of great grassroots projects around the state, Robert F. Wells, South Londonderry but we often fund them at relatively small amounts. I would love to see us Jessamyn West, Randolph support these projects in a stronger and more sustainable way. I’m just excited to get started. It’s certainly one of my dream jobs in Cover: March art by Nate Powell. © John Lewis and Andrew Aydin Vermont. I’m really jazzed about the group of people who are here right now, and what we can achieve together.

volumes illustrate the story of Lewis’s commitment to nonviolent protest in the pursuit of social justice. For the first time in the 17-year history of the Vermont Reads program, we have chosen a graphic novel, a format that combines prose with narrative drawing. We think that March: Book One will engage many current fans of Vermont Reads, and also attract a new audience who have not yet participated in the program. Through Vermont Reads, we invite all Vermonters — students and adults alike — to read the same book and participate in a wide variety of community activities related to its themes. A brief application from a community-based organization — school, library, or other entity — is all it takes to get started. VERMONT READS 2019 Our hope is that after reading March: Book One, readers will be inspired to keep learning about, exploring, reading, and discussing this March: Book One seminal time in our country’s history. by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell Over 200 Vermont communities have participated in Vermont Reads to date, and 101 towns and cities have HC is pleased to announce that Nashville as a means of undermining hosted, or will host, programs and Vwe have chosen the graphic novel segregation. The narrative continues events related to our Vermont Reads March: Book One for Vermont Reads in subsequent books to tell of the 2018 choice, Katherine Paterson’s 2019. It is the first of a trilogy written 1963 March on Washington (Book Bread and Roses, Too. by civil rights icon John Lewis, in Two) and the march across Edmund Visit vtreads.org for more collaboration with co-writer Andrew Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama information. Aydin and award-winning graphic in 1965 (Book Three). All three artist Nate Powell. Lewis was chairman of the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was considered one of Take Part in Vermont Reads! the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights oin Vermonters statewide Application deadlines: movement. He has served in the US Jby reading and exploring December 1, 2018 and June 1, 2019 Congress since 1987 and was awarded March: Book One. With a brief Applications: the Medal of Freedom by President application, schools, libraries, vtreads.org or call 802.262.1355 Obama in 2011. historical societies, service groups, Book One tells of Lewis’s childhood businesses, churches, local in rural Alabama, his desire as a governments, and others can Underwriter Media Sponsor partner in activities that promote young man to be a preacher, his life- literacy, encourage lifelong learning, Jan Blomstrann changing interactions with Martin and strengthen community. Luther King, Jr., and the nonviolent sit-ins he joined at lunch counters in

Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 • Page 3 Board and Staff Welcomes and Farewells to Staff and Board

VHC welcomes Tess Taylor as its new as Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the College of Director of Community Programs. Arts and Sciences. She also served as director of Graduate A graduate of Saint Michael’s College, Studies for UVM’s English Department, as well as on the Tess has worked in many roles Editorial Advisory Board for J19: The Journal of Nineteenth- in Vermont. A three-term state Century Americanists. She is a recipient of UVM’s Glen Elder representative from Barre City, she Faculty Leadership Award. was also, for six years, the Director of Jessamyn West of Randolph is a Education and Public Programming consultant, researcher and international at the Vermont Historical Society public speaker on library science and (VHS). Through that position and other Tess Taylor digital divide issues. She is the author relations, she knows the work of VHC of Without a Net: Librarians Bridging and the many town historical societies that often utilize VHC’s the Digital Divide, which explores Speakers Bureau. Tess brings extensive experience organizing the challenges of a society becoming programs and events, nurturing existing relationships among stratified by computer skills as well as organizations, and forming new collaborations across the state. Jessamyn West race and income inequality. Jessamyn Before working at VHS, Tess served as executive director speaks to local, regional, and national of the South End Arts and Business Association in Burlington libraries and library associations and is a regular columnist and of Studio Place Arts (SPA) in Barre, and as general manager writing on the status and roles of libraries today. For thirteen of the Vermont Granite Museum of Barre. years she has taught basic technology classes at the Randolph Technical Career Center’s adult education program. She also VHC welcomes two new members to its board of directors. teaches Community Engagement at University of Hawai’i at Elizabeth Fenton of Essex Junction is Manoa’s Library and Information Science Program and is the Associate Professor of English at technology coordinator for the Vermont Library Association the University of Vermont, teaching (VLA). She is a recipient of VLA’s Library Advocate of the graduate and undergraduate courses on Year Award and was recently a Fellow at Harvard’s Library novels in early America, the literature Innovation Lab. Jessamyn earned a BA from Hampshire of colonial encounter, Mark Twain’s College and an MLib. from the University of Washington. America, and other topics. She worked previously as Assistant Professor VHC thanks departing board members for their service. Elizabeth Fenton of English at UVM and at Loyola Kathleen Kelleher of South Burlington served on the University. She is a graduate of UVM board from July 2016 to April 2018, during which she and earned an MA and PhD in English from Rice University. worked on the Development and Finance Committees. Elizabeth has served on numerous committees at UVM, Joyce Yoo Babbitt of Underhill served on the board from including the Graduate and Executive committees in the January 2017 to March 2018. She was a member of the English Department, on the Honors College Council, and Swenson Award and Program committees.

Support the Peter Gilbert Endowment Fund

n his 16 years as the Executive Director of the Vermont Humanities Council, Peter IGilbert often said, “The humanities enrich our lives and strengthen our communities.” Peter made extraordinary contributions to the breadth, depth, and excellence of the Council’s work. The programs he founded or brought to VHC include First Wednesdays, Vermont Reads, Veterans Book Groups, and Voices. A new endowment in Peter’s honor will help VHC continue the important programming that he advanced so well, and assist the organization in planning its future. We’re seeking gifts and pledges to the Peter Gilbert Endowment Fund payable over the next three years (2018 to 2020). Contact Linda Wrazen at (802) 262-1357 to make your pledge today.

Page 4 • Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 News and Notes

Call for Board Nominations

he Vermont Humanities TCouncil invites nominations for its board of directors. If you know someone who would like to be considered for the board, contact Development Officer Linda Wrazen at 802.262.1357 or [email protected]. Reading Frederick Douglass Next Board Meeting: December 5, 11:00 am Vermont Law School, Participants in the Reading Frederick Douglass event hosted by the Peace & Justice Center South Royalton at Burlington City Hall on July 2 follow along with the public reading of Douglass’ fiery vermonthumanities.org/board Independence Day speech. Thirty Vermont communities took part in the program this year, which started with only four venues in 2014.

VHC Awards $21,350 in Humanities Grants in Spring 2018

• And Justice for All Exhibit and We the People • Time Travelers Camp 2018, Orleans County istorical Lectures, Friends of the Morrill Homestead, $1,000— Society, $2,000—to support a history camp for kids 8–12 to support a lecture and an exhibit commemorating the using art and the humanities. sesquicentennial of the ratification of the 14th Amendment. • Traveling Exhibits for Inter-library Loans, • 2018 Bookstock Literary Festival, Woodstock, Vermont Folklife Center, $1,500—to support the creation $2,000—to support the tenth annual festival. of three portable exhibits on the cultural heritage of Vermont. • 2018 Brattleboro Literary Festival, Brattleboro, • “The Unexpected President: The Life and Times $2,000—to support the 17th annual festival. of Chester A. Arthur,” Vermont Division for Historic • 2018 Burlington Book Festival, Burlington, $2,000— Preservation, $1,500—to support two programs by author to support the 14th annual festival. Scott S. Greenberger presented at presidential state historic sites. • Common Things Lecture Series, Clemmons Family • The Vermont International Festival Abenaki Farm, $2,850—to support a series featuring teen scholars Culture Lectures and Demonstration, Vermont who share their process in developing creative works. Performing Arts League, $1,000—to support Abenaki community presentations at the Vermont International Festival. • History Camp 2018, Swanton Public Library, $1,500—to support a free annual summer camp for kids • Vermont Music History Exhibit, Big Heavy World, exploring American and world history and archaeology. $1,000—to support an exhibit on music in Vermont at the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier. • Justice — and Poetry — for All, Sundog Poetry Center, Inc., $1,500—to support a celebration of African American Humanities Spring Grant Deadlines: poetry in a series of readings held at Clemmons Family Farm. • Accepting letters of intent: Jan. 7–Feb. 8, 2019 • PlayTalks 2018: Women’s Voices, Dorset Theatre • Accepting proposals: Feb. 18–March 22 Festival, $1,000 —to support humanities-based panels and • Decision announcements: May 15 discussions on women to accompany the theatre’s 2018 season. • Stage 33 Live Presentations, Stage 33 Live LTD, $500—to support a humanities-based TV, radio, and web series.

Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 • Page 5 C • a • l • e • n • d • a • r Autumn and Early Winter 2018

N. C. (1882–1945), Andrew (1917–2009), and celebrates White’s versatility and legacy. ddison ounty A C Jamie (b. 1946) — and offers new perspectives Manchester, First Congregational Church, on these painters. Middlebury, Ilsley Public 7:00 pm. Cindy Waters, 802.362.2607. October 3 ~ Creativity and Historical Truths. Library, 7:00 pm. Chris Kirby, 802.388.4095. November 10 ~ Restorative Justice: How First Wednesdays talk. Despite journalism’s Vermont, Argentina, and Rwanda Wrestle essential role in informing the public about Bennington County with Crime, the Past, and Rebuilding significant events, Dartmouth professor Irene Community. In response to atrocities and Kacandes argues that it’s memoir, fiction, Through October ~ Manchester Historical crimes against humanity, truth commissions music, and art that often best convey truth Society Artifact Display. Vermont Reads have attempted to bring justice and healing to and leave lasting impressions. Middlebury, Event. This exhibit relates to the period communities. Norwich University Professor Ilsley Public Library, 7:00 pm. Chris Kirby, during which Bread and Roses, Too takes Rowly Brucken explains these initiatives. 802.388.4095. place. Manchester Community Library. North Bennington, The Left Bank, 2:00 pm. October 10 ~ Soup to Nuts: An Eccentric Information, 802.362.2607. Jennie Rozycki, 802.447.7121. History of Food. Writer Rebecca Rupp October 3 ~ When Journalism Becomes December 5 ~ Robert Penn Warren’s explains the rocky evolution of table manners, Advocacy. . Journalist Timeless All the King’s Men. First the not-so-welcome invention of the fork, First Wednesdays talk Carroll Bogert, president of the Marshall Wednesdays talk. Warren’s 1947 Pulitzer- the surprising benefits of family dinners, and Project, examines the line separating the winning novel chronicles the rise and reign of more. Vergennes, Bixby Library, 10:30 am. media from activists, and considers what politician Willie Stark — based on Louisiana’s Addison County Retired Teachers Association, we gain, and what we lose, when journalism Huey Long — who stirs class resentments and 802.759.7777. takes an obvious stand. Manchester, First mesmerizes crowds. Middlebury professor October 14 ~ Colonial Meetinghouses Congregational Church, 7:00 pm. Cindy Deborah Evans examines how it addresses the of New England. New England’s colonial Waters, 802.362.2607. moral challenges of balancing populist desires meetinghouses embody an important yet with the lure of personal power. Books available October 6 ~ Book Discussion: Poetry 180: little-known chapter in American history. to read in advance or afterwards (not required). A Turning Back to Poetry by Billy Collins, Paul Wainwright tells the story of their Manchester, First Congregational Church, Editor. Part of the Vermont Reads Past Picks construction, use, and lasting impact on 7:00 pm. Cindy Waters, 802.362.2607. series. Led by Charles Rossiter. Bennington, American culture. Ferrisburg, Union Meeting The Green at Harwood Hill Motel, 1:00 pm. House, 2:00 pm. Gail Blasius, 802.425.4505. Bennington Area Arts Council, 708.606.4673. Caledonia County November 7 ~ Political Activism and the October 14 ~ Bread and Roses, Too Book Case for Hope. First Wednesdays talk. Join September 26 ~ Hardwick During the Era Discussion. Vermont Reads Event. We will Black Lives Matter advocate DeRay McKesson of the “Bread and Roses” Strike. Vermont discuss how the book’s characters deal with for an interactive program about political Reads Event. Elizabeth Dow, PhD discusses labor strikes, the roles of women, and other activism, as McKesson shares how his liberal the granite industry in Hardwick in 1912. issues. Led by Arlington High School teacher arts education gives perspective and informs Hardwick Historical Society, 7:00 pm. Carol Farley. Arlington, Martha Canfield his approach to advocacy. Wilson Hall, Jeudevine Memorial Library, 802.472.5948. Library, 2:00 pm. Information, 802.375.6153. , 7:00 pm. Chris Kirby, Middlebury College October 3 ~ Bread and Roses, Too. First 802.388.4095. October 18 ~ The Western Abenaki: Wednesdays talk. Acclaimed children’s book History and Culture. Jeanne Brink examines December 5 ~ The Wyeths: First Family author Katherine Paterson discusses her the importance in Abenaki society of of American Art. First Wednesdays novel of historical fiction that tells the story elders and children, the environment, and talk. Shelburne Museum director Thomas of the 1912 “Bread and Roses” strike in the the continuance of lifeways and traditions. Denenberg discusses the Wyeths —  Lawrence, Massachusetts textile mills through Rupert United Methodist Church,  the eyes of an Italian-American girl and a 7:00 pm. Gene Higgins, 802.394.7738. runaway boy. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Above: Lake Willoughby in Westmore with November 7 ~ Celebrating E. B. White. 7:00 pm. Robert Joly, 802.748.8291. First Wednesdays talk. From Charlotte’s Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor in the background. October 3 ~ Bread and Roses, Too Book Web to his essays in The New Yorker,  Historian Jill Mudgett discusses the origins of Discussion. Vermont Reads Event.  E. B. White remains the master’s master of Vermonters’ pride in their landscape on October 20 Led by library director Lisa Sammet. elegant prose, sophisticated wit, and graceful Hardwick, Jeudevine Memorial Library,  at Weathersfield Meeting House. irreverence. Drawing on his various writings, Image from vintage postcard, Boston Public Library Tichnor 7:00 pm. Information, 802.472.5948. Brothers collection. Dartmouth professor Nancy Jay Crumbine

Page 6 • Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 Calendar

October 6 ~ Make a Printers Hat like original theater, and more. Free and open Granite Workers Wore. Vermont Reads to the public. Burlington, UVM Alumni Event. Come make a hat and learn about House Silver Pavilion and downtown venues. the granite industry in Hardwick and Barre. For information, 802.658.3328 or visit Hardwick, Jeudevine Memorial Library,  burlingtonbookfestival.com. 11:00 am. Information, 802.472.5948. October 13 ~ America: The Movie. November 7 ~ The Fate of Western Grant Event. This ticketed event features Democracy. First Wednesdays talk. Liberal award-winning director Eugene Jarecki in democracy — the system of representative conversation with the audience on the democracy, individual liberty, and the rule  subjects addressed in his work. Includes film of law on which America was founded — excerpts, audience Q&A, reception, and book is being challenged by both foreign powers signing. Burlington, UVM Alumni House and and domestic politicians who favor more Silver Pavilion, 7:00 pm. For ticket info, contact autocratic governance. Visiting scholar at Burlington Book Festival, 802.658.3328. Middlebury College Stan Sloan discusses  October 17 ~ (Note date and time) these threats. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear 7:00 pm. Robert Joly, 802.748.8291. in the Cyber Age. First Wednesdays talk. New York Times national security correspondent December 6 (Note date) ~ Charles Dickens New York Times national security correspondent and the Writing of A Christmas Carol. David Sanger describes America’s use of cyber David Sanger discusses cyber warfare and the First Wednesdays talk. Dickens scholar Barry warfare in its arsenal. Examining its impact press at UVM’s Ira Allen Chapel on October 17 Deitz considers Dickens’s career up to the on both defense strategy and civil liberties, as part of First Wednesdays. DoD photo by Joseph Eddins. publication of A Christmas Carol in 1843, what he argues that overclassification is not only the novella’s success meant to Dickens’s life and impeding our understanding of government self-awareness, and atomized German society. work, and how the story has resonated since, actions but also hurting national security.  Essex Junction, Brownell Library, 7:00 pm. including in films. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Ira Allen Chapel, Burlington, 5:00 pm. Wendy Hysko, 802.878.6954. 7:00 pm. Robert Joly, 802.748.8291. October 17 ~ Catching People’s Stories. Book Discussion: Experience My World. Using recorded interviews, Jane Beck shares These books take the reader inside the world Chittenden County the experiences, values, and attitudes of of those experiencing bipolar disorder, physical ordinary people — often doing extraordinary disability, and Alzheimer’s disease. Led by October 12–14 ~ 2018 Burlington Book things — and reflects on why people tell Merilyn Burrington. Shelburne, Wake Robin Festival. Grant Event. The city’s 14th stories. South Burlington Public Library, Community Center, Mondays, 7:30 pm. Pat annual celebration of the written word 6:30 pm. Verity Burnor, 802.846.4140. Dart, 248.470.2614. October 8, Kay Redfield offers readings, signings, panels, workshops, November 7 ~ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods film screenings, musical performances, First Wednesdays talk. Producer Nicholas and Madness. November 5, Robert Murphy’s Ma discusses and shows clips from his The Body Silent: The Different World of the recent film “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” a Disabled. December 10, Harriet Chessman’s documentary about Mister Rogers, a leader Someone Not Really Her Mother. in TV programming related to kindness, racial Book Discussion: The African American harmony, civility, and hope. Essex Junction, Experience: South to North. This series Brownell Library, 7:00 pm. Wendy Hysko, pairs Isabel Wilkerson’s masterful history 802.878.6954. of the African-American Great Migration November 15 ~ “I Wrote and Waited”: with fiction and memoir. Led by Merrilyn Aleksandr Solzhentsyn’s Life in Cavendish, Burrington. South Burlington Public Vermont. Grant Event. Author Margo Library, Wednesdays, 6:30 pm. For information, Caulfield shares insights into the life of 802.846.4140. October 10, Jean Toomer’s Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Prize-winning Soviet Cane. November 14, Ernest J. Gaines’s In dissident author who moved to Cavendish after My Father’s House. December 12, Isabel his exile from the Soviet Union. Burlington, Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns. UVM, University Heights South Room 133, Women Veterans Book Group 2018. 12:00 pm. Amanda Gustin, 802.479.4264. Veterans Book Groups explore books,  november 16–17 ~ VHC 2018 Fall Conference: poetry, articles, and short stories, with the Children on steps of Barre’s Labor Hall, 1912. goal of fostering camaraderie and a safe space Numerous Vermont Reads 2018 events take place The Ebb and Flow of Optimism through American History. See page 12. to reflect and share ideas and questions. Free this fall around the state, including a special event copies of all readings provided. Open to all at Springfield High School on September 26 with December 5 ~ Daily Life in Prewar Nazi US military women veterans. Led by Merilyn author Katherine Paterson, who will also discuss Germany. First Wednesdays talk.  Burrington. Free. Pre-registration required. Focusing on the prewar experience of  Burlington Lakeside Veterans Clinic, Bread and Roses, Too as part of First Wednesdays in non-Jewish citizens, Keene State professor St. Johnsbury (October 3) and Rutland (November 7). Fridays, 12:30 pm. Ellen Duval, 802.657.7092. Paul Vincent examines how ideology and October 19 and November 30. Image courtesy Vermont Historical Society Collections terror undermined human dignity, numbed

Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 • Page 7 Calendar

October 16 ~ The Old Country Fiddler: 1:30 pm. Maureen Badger, 802.766.5063. Lamoille County Charles Ross Taggart, Vermont’s Traveling September 30, Dennis Lehane’s The Given Day. Entertainer. Fiddler Adam Boyce portrays October 21, Denise Giardina’s Storming Heaven. September 29 ~ Vermont’s Historic Theater Charles Ross Taggart near the end of his November 11, Jon Hassler’s Rookery Blues. Curtains. Christine Hadsel discusses some career, circa 1936, sharing recollections of of Vermont’s 177 curtains that graced stages his life and career with live fiddling. East Rutland County in town and grange halls, opera houses, and Topsham Town Hall, 7:00 pm. Topsham community theaters. Jeffersonville, Varnum Historical Society, 802.439.6339. September 27 ~ Song of the Vikings: The Memorial Library, 3:00 pm. Christy Liddy, October 23 ~ The First Arsenal of Making of Norse Myths. 802.644.2117. Award-winning author Democracy: “High-Tech” in the Connecticut Nancy Marie Brown illuminates the folklore October 13 ~ From Skiffs to Sail Ferries: Valley, 1795–1900. Historian Carrie Brown and pagan legends of medieval Scandinavia. The Story of Vermont’s Small Boat Traditions. explores the role of the Connecticut Valley, Castleton Free Library, 7:00 pm. Mary Douglas Brooks shares his research on with an emphasis on Vermont, in developing Kearns, 802.468.5574. Vermont’s boat-building traditions and his technology that changed American life. October 3 ~ The British Monarchy: Politics, work recreating some of these historic vessels. Bradford, United Church of Christ, 7:00 pm. Money, and Public Image. Jeffersonville, Varnum Memorial Library,  First Wednesdays Larry Coffin, 802.222.4423. talk. Americans were fascinated by the British 3:00 pm. Monica Hawkes, 802.644.1418. October 28 ~ Wolf Peaches, Poisoned Peas, royal family long before Meghan Markle, and Madame Pompadour’s Underwear: but few have understood its history. What The Surprising History of Common Garden role has the monarchy played in the British Vegetables. Science and history writer constitution? How is it financed, and how Rebecca Rupp discusses the stories behind important is its public image? Middlebury many of our favorite garden vegetables. professor Paul Monod addresses these Randolph, St. John’s Episcopal Church,  questions. Rutland Free Library, 7:00 pm. 2:30 pm. Marilyn Polson, 802.685.7725. Randal Smathers, 802.773.1860. October 16 ~ Levi Allen: Ethan Allen’s Black Orleans County Sheep Brother. Vincent Feeney discusses  how Levi Allen was an outsider in his own October 3 ~ After Fifty Years of Teaching, a family and presents a vivid picture of the Teacher’s Favorite Poems. First Wednesdays Allens’ turmoil during the formative years  talk. UVM professor emeritus Huck Gutman of Vermont and the American Republic.  reflects on some of his favorite poets, both Fair Haven Free Library, 7:00 pm. Cecelia American and European, whom he explored  Hunt, 802.265.7913. Making sense of the news (and “fake news”) is in his fifty years of teaching at UVM. October 18 ~ Vermont vs. Hollywood: the focus of First Wednesdays and Speakers Bureau Newport, Goodrich Memorial Library,  100 Years of Vermont in Film. Amanda Kay 7:00 pm. Katherine Langlands, 802.334.7902. talks this fall in Newport, Montpelier, Rutland, Gustin of the Vermont Historical Society Manchester, and Bellows Falls. November 7 ~ The Roots of Fascism.  provides background and shares clips from First Wednesdays talk. Dartmouth Hollywood films based in Vermont. Pawlet Book Discussion: Booker Prize Winners. professor Graziella Parati tells the history Town Hall, 7:00 pm. Stephen Williams, The Booker Prize has achieved respect that of fascism and its roots in Italy in 1919, and 802.645.9529. rivals the Pulitzer. This series explores some  explores similarities and differences in the November 3 ~ King Arthur Flour Motorcoach of the winning works. Led by Francette Cerulli. fascist regimes of Adolf Hitler and Francisco Tour. Vermont Reads Event. Delve into Jeffersonville, Varnum Memorial Library, Franco. Newport, Goodrich Memorial bread and culture with a motor coach tour Saturdays, 3:00 pm. Jan Schilling, 802.644.2025. Library, 7:00 pm. Katherine Langlands, to King Arthur Flour, watching en route November 10, Margaret Atwood’s The Blind 802.334.7902. a documentary about the historic “Bread Assassin. December 8, J. M. Coetzee’s The Life December 5 ~ Making Sense of the News, and Roses” textile strike in Lawrence, and Times of Michael K. Local to Global. First Wednesdays talk. Massachusetts. Copies of Katherine Paterson’s Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist David Moats Bread and Roses, Too available on the coach. Orange County leads a panel discussion with some of the Advanced registration and payment required. region’s best journalists, including VTDigger Meet at Pawlet Public Library, 9:00 am.  Through October 14 ~ And Justice for founder and editor Anne Galloway and Chronicle For information, 802.325.3123. All Exhibit: Justin Morrill and the 14th founder and publisher Chris Braithwaite. November 7 ~ Bread and Roses, Too. First Amendment of the US Constitution. Newport, Goodrich Memorial Library,  Wednesdays talk. Acclaimed children’s  Grant Event. This groundbreaking exhibit 7:00 pm. Katherine Langlands, 802.334.7902. book author Katherine Paterson discusses  highlights the critical aspects of the 14th Book Discussion: Fear No Labor: Novels about her novel of historical fiction that tells the Amendment and Vermonter Justin Morrill’s Union Organizing. This series examines the story of the 1912 “Bread and Roses” strike role in its drafting. Admission $6. Strafford, formation of unions in different industries and in the Lawrence, Massachusetts textile mills Justin Morrill Homestead, 10:00 am–5:00 pm the people who suffered, fought, and died as through the eyes of an Italian-American girl Wednesdays through Sundays. Michael Caduto, part of the labor battle. Led by Rachael Cohen. and a runaway boy. Rutland Free Library, 802.765.4288. Derby, Dailey Memorial Library, Sundays,  7:00 pm. Randal Smathers, 802.773.1860.

Page 8 • Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 Calendar

November 13 ~ Bread and Roses, Too Book State Humanities Councils. Montpelier, Discussion. Vermont Reads Event. Adults Vermont State House, 8:30 am. vtstatehouse. are invited to join the library’s Tea Read Book org/symposium. Club to discuss Katherine Paterson’s Bread October 25 ~ Of Wheelmen, the New and Roses, Too. Books available at the Library  Woman, and Good Roads: Bicycling in in advance. Pawlet Public Library, 1:00 pm. Vermont, 1880–1920. UVM professor Luis For information, 802.325.3123. Vivanco explores the fascinating early history November 17 ~ Immigration Experience of the bicycle in Vermont, a new invention  in the Slate Valley of New York and Vermont. that generated widespread curiosity when  Vermont Reads Event. View exhibits at it arrived here in the 1880s. Montpelier, the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, NY Onion River Outdoors, 6:30 pm. Rachel that interpret the immigration experience Senechal, 802.223.3338 x311. of many families who moved to the slate November 7 ~ News, “Fake News,” and region of Vermont and New York to work Democracy in America. First Wednesdays in the slate industry. $5 museum admission. talk. “Fake news” has now entered America’s Hosted by Pawlet Public Library. Meet at lexicon and political life. How is the explosion Granville Slate Valley Museum, 1:00 pm. of misinformation changing the nation? First Wednesdays For information, 802.325.3123. How can journalists fight back? Mark Potok, December 5 ~ Objectivity in the Fake News former editor of the Southern Poverty Law returns October 3 Era. First Wednesdays talk. VPR host Center’s Intelligence Report, considers the role Jane Lindholm offers ways for listeners to of a serious free press in a post-industrial ince 2002 VHC’s First ensure that the news they get is accurate, democracy. Montpelier, Unitarian Church, SWednesdays lecture series and for news organizations to safeguard 7:00 pm. Rachel Senechal, 802.223.3338 x311. has brought enriching programs their reporting as fair and correct. Rutland November 14 ~ Vermont vs. Hollywood: to thousands of people annually Free Library, 7:00 pm. Randal Smathers, 100 Years of Vermont in Film. Amanda Kay throughout the state. The 2018-19 802.773.1860. Gustin of the Vermont Historical Society provides background and shares clips season includes talks by New York Washington County from Hollywood films based in Vermont. Times national security correspondent Montpelier Senior Activity Center,  David Sanger on cyber warfare and October 3 ~ How the South Won the Civil 1:30 pm. Grace Greene, 802.479.2602. the press; historian Harold Holzer on War and Why It Matters. First Wednesdays December 5 ~ The Legacy of Rachel Carson. Lincoln’s second inaugural address; talk. Most Americans were taught that the First Wednesdays talk. Silent Spring not author Susan Clark on the Slow North won and the South lost the Civil War. only launched the environmental movement But what if its underlying issues were never but also laid out the fundamental problems Democracy movement; Smithsonian resolved? Harvard professor John Stauffer with our relationship to nature. Dartmouth senior curator Eleanor Jones Harvey connects the Civil War era with current professor Nancy Jay Crumbine celebrates events, highlighting how the South effectively on the paintings of Frederic Church scientist and poet Rachel Carson’s clarity, and Albert Bierstadt; Black Lives won the war and why it matters. Montpelier, courage, and brilliance. Montpelier, Kellogg- pm Unitarian Church, 7:00 . Rachel Senechal, Hubbard Library, 7:00 pm. Rachel Senechal, Matter advocate DeRay McKesson 802.223.3338 x311. 802.223.3338 x311. on education and activism; film october 24 ~ Journalism Symposium. producer Nicholas Ma on his Mister The Friends of the Vermont State House Windham County Rogers documentary; Positive Shift present a day of discussion about the author Catherine Sanderson on challenges facing American citizens today September 29 ~ Vermont History through who depend on journalists for information. Song. Singer and researcher Linda Radtke, with how thinking influences us; Yale Law Panelists include David Mindich, Chair of the pianist Arthur Zorn, brings Vermont history to School lecturer Emily Bazelon on Journalism Department at the Klein College  life with engaging commentary. Bellows Falls, mass incarceration; journalist Mark of Media and Communication, Temple Immanuel Episcopal Church, 7:30 pm. Stone Potok and VPR host Jane Lindholm University; Jane Mayer, New Yorker staff writer; Church Center, 802.460.0110. David Moats, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; on the fake news era; and much more. Allen Gilbert, former Executive Director of October 3 ~ Hamilton: The Man and the Visit vermonthumanities.org/ ACLU-VT; Anne Galloway, founder and editor Musical. First Wednesdays talk. From his of VTDigger and Executive Director of the birth in the Caribbean to death in a duel, first-wednesdays to see the full Vermont Journalism Trust; Candace Page, Alexander Hamilton’s life was part romance, 2018-2019 schedule. And join us on editor at Seven Days and inductee in the  part tragedy. Hamilton biographer Willard Sterne Randall discusses the man and the October 3 for the beginning of a new New England Newspaper Hall of Fame;  season of informative and enriching and many more! $15, includes lunch. Part blockbuster Broadway musical, with excerpts of the Democracy of the Informed Citizen from its score. Brattleboro, Brooks  free lectures. Initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation  Memorial Library, 7:00 pm. Starr LaTronica, and administered by the Federation of  802.254.5290.

Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 • Page 9 Calendar

October 11–14 ~ Brattleboro Literary it arrived here in the 1880s. Woodstock Festival 2018. Grant Event. This year’s History Center, 2:00 pm. Jennie Shurtleff, festival showcases more than 50 writers, 802.457.1822. poets, and editors in panels, readings, and November 7 ~ The Antislavery Press and the other special events. Free and open to Road to Civil War. First Wednesdays talk. the public. Downtown Brattleboro. For University of Connecticut history professor information, 802.365.7673. Manisha Sinha explores the work and legacy October 18 ~ Sorting the News from the of antislavery editors such as William Lloyd Chaff. Paradoxically, the Internet has made Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and pioneering it both easier and harder to find “truth.” African American and women editors whose Journalist and educator Mark Timney shares journalism in the mid-19th century was how to tell good sources from bad ones, critical to the abolition of slavery. Norwich discern fact from assumption, and distinguish Public Library, 7:00 pm. Lucinda Walker, “fake news” from the real thing. Bellows 802.649.1184. Falls, Rockingham Free Public Library, 6:00 pm. December 5 ~ Hamilton: The Man and the Anne Dempsey, 802.463.4270. Musical. First Wednesdays talk. From his October 23 ~ Cartooning Reconsidered. birth in the Caribbean to death in a duel, James Sturm, co-founder of the Center for Alexander Hamilton’s life was part romance, Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Advertisement for Columbia Bicycles, 1895. part tragedy. Hamilton biographer Willard explores the history of the language and art UVM professor Luis Vivanco shares the early Sterne Randall discusses the man and the of comics and the new ways that cartooning history of the bicycle in Vermont on October 25 blockbuster Broadway musical, with excerpts and visual storytelling are changing the in Montpelier and November 4 in Woodstock. from its score. Norwich Public Library, world. Putney, O’Brien Auditorium at 7:00 pm. Lucinda Walker, 802.649.1184. Landmark College, 7:00 pm. For information, been more intense, but history teaches Book Discussion: The African American 802.387.4767. us otherwise. Dartmouth professor Experience: South to North. This series November 7 ~ The New World We Face: Richard Wright examines the present-day pairs Isabel Wilkerson’s masterful history of America Alone? First Wednesdays talk. contradictions of US immigration policy the African American Great Migration with Veteran diplomat George Jaeger considers a and places them in historical perspective. fiction and memoir. Led by Deborah Luskin. world in which America chooses unilateral Norwich Public Library, 7:00 pm. Lucinda Hartland Public Library, Wednesdays,  action but not leadership in the international Walker, 802.649.1184. 6:30 pm. For information, 802.436.2473. community, which risks isolating the US from October 20 ~ Vermont’s Remarkable October 3, Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth both allies and adversaries. Brattleboro, Sharpshooters and Gettysburg. Historian of Other Suns. October 24, Richard Wright’s Brooks Memorial Library, 7:00 pm. Starr Howard Coffin shares his recent research  Black Boy. November 14, Ernest J. Gaines’s  LaTronica, 802.254.5290. on how Vermont’s sharpshooters played a In My Father’s House. December 5 ~ Writing the Life of little-known but major role at Gettysburg Book Discussion: B.I.G. (Big, Intense, Good) Frederick Douglass. First Wednesdays during the Civil War. North Springfield, Books. This series examines classic works of talk. Yale historian David Blight, author of Springfield Art and Historical Society, 2:00 pm. literature of a certain size and heft — both a new biography of Frederick Douglass, For information, 802.886.7935. literal and figurative. Led by Suzanne Brown. tells Douglass’s story: an escaped slave who October 20 ~ The Hills of Home: Mountains Norwich Public Library, Mondays, 7:00 pm. became one of the leading abolitionists, and Identity in Vermont History. Historian  For information, 802.649.1184. October 8, orators, and writers of his era. Brattleboro, Jill Mudgett discusses the origins and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. October 29 Brooks Memorial Library, 7:00 pm. Starr meaning of our strongly held attachments and November 19, Henry David Thoreau’s LaTronica, 802.254.5290. to the Vermont landscape. Perkinsville, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays. Weathersfield Meeting House, 7:30 pm. 2018 VA Combat Veterans Book Group. Windsor County Weathersfield Historical Society, 802.885.9517. Veterans Book Groups create an opportunity October 21 ~ Impact of the Textile for veterans to explore books, poetry, articles, September 26 ~ 2018 Vermont Reads Industry. Vermont Reads Event. Bread and short stories, with the goal of fostering Author Katherine Paterson Talk. Vermont and Roses, Too tells the story of striking mill camaraderie and a safe space to reflect and Reads Event. World-renowned children’s workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. We’ll share ideas and questions. This series is author, Vermont resident, and frequent VHC discuss their working conditions and the open to any former Service Member who presenter Katherine Paterson will speak historical significance of the strike. Unitarian served in a combat theater. Free copies of about her work including her book, Bread and Universalist Church of Springfield,  all readings and light dinner provided. Led Roses, Too, VHC’s 2018 Vermont Reads book. 12:00 pm. For information, 802.885.3327. by retired history professor and Vietnam Springfield High School, 6:30 pm. Richelle veteran Michael Heaney. Free. Pre-registration November 4 ~ Of Wheelmen, the New Franzoni, 802.262.1355. required. , VA Medical Woman, and Good Roads: Bicycling in White River Junction Center, Wednesdays, 5:00 pm. David Szelowski, October 3 ~ US Immigration Policy in Vermont, 1880–1920. UVM professor Luis 802.296.6343. October 3, October 17, Historical Perspective. First Wednesdays Vivanco explores the fascinating early history October 31, November 21, November 28,  talk. One would think that current anxieties of the bicycle in Vermont, a new invention December 5. about immigration in the US have never that generated widespread curiosity when

Page 10 • Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 News and Notes

“I Wish Education Could Always be Like This”

VHC sponsored 14 Humanities Camps at middle schools around Vermont this summer. The camps help at-risk students engage with reading and the humanities. This year, campers studied themes such as Pyramids, Plows, and Podcasts, Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances, Is that True?, and Bread and Roses, Too, which was centered around the 2018 Vermont Reads book. VHC staffers and board members regularly visit the camps to observe the fun and learning that takes place during a typical day. We spoke with several camp directors to get their perspectives on the value of these Humanities Camps. Ben Parker, Northfield Middle School, Students at the Northfield Middle School took part in a group activity called “Saving Superman,” Ordinary People in Extraordinary a component of their Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances theme. Circumstances theme: “Whenever you have kids in a setting that’s not graded or that’s not focused on achieving specific educational outcomes, you have so many opportunities for kids to participate in real learning activities. I think one of the best things about Humanities Camp is that it’s a camp, not school. So we’re able to get to kids in a way that we aren’t always able to in the classroom.” Sarah Miller, Camels Hump Middle School, Is that True? theme: “These Humanities Camps are really important, for the adults as well as for the young people who participate in them. Over the course of the week that we spend The Camels Hump Middle School Humanities Camp in Richmond visited WCAX-TV as part of the together, we get to know each other in a “Is that True?” theme about the news media. The camp was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon way that we don’t always have a chance to Foundation in partnership with the Pulitzer Prizes as part of the “Democracy and the Informed during an academic school day. We have Citizen” Initiative, which is administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils. the time to spend a whole week talking about issues that are important to kids Carrie Gilman, Northfield Middle way more ownership because of that. and looking at books that are interesting School: “I wish education could always The campers love the experience. It is and engaging. When kids have questions, be like this. It’s intensive, it’s immersive, truly one of the most remarkable weeks we can really explore those questions it’s experiential, it’s project-based. It’s of our entire summer, if not our entire together. When kids are curious about all of the things that we have found as school year.” something, they can launch into their own educators work the best. We would give Visit vermonthumanities.org/camp study or their own research or their own the campers a project, and they would to see a video about the 2018 camps. conversations with other people.” figure out how to work it. They took

Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018 • Page 11 The Ebb and Flow of Plenary Speakers Optimism through Ibram X. Kendi Ibram X. Kendi is Professor of History and International Relations and Founding Director American History of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. His second book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction, making Kendi the award’s youngest-ever winner. He has published essays in books and academic journals including The Journal of African American History, Journal of African American Studies, and The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture. He has written for Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and other publications. Kendi is the author of The Black Campus Movement, an award-winning book on Black student activism in the late ’60s and early ’70s. His next book, How To Be An Antiracist, will be published in 2019.

David W. Blight David W. Blight is Class of 1954 Professor of American History at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. He is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the US Civil War and its legacy. He is the author of A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Narratives of Vermont Humanities Council Emancipation and Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, which received eight book awards, including the Bancroft Prize, 2018 Annual Fall Conference the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize. His American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era received the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Award for best book in nonfiction on racism and November 16 and 17 human diversity. He latest book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Begins Friday afternoon was published this fall. and runs through Saturday Heather Cox Richardson Heather Cox Richardson teaches nineteenth- century American history at Boston College. Dudley H. Davis Center, Her early work focused on the transformation University of Vermont of political ideology from the Civil War to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and examined issues of race, economics, westward he hope that tomorrow will be better expansion, and the construction of the concept than today has been a key element of an American middle class. Her book, To Make T Men Free: A History of the Republican Party examines the fundamental of America’s history, its self-image, and tensions in American politics from the time of the Northwest Ordinance to the present. She is currently working on an intellectual even its character. However, Americans history of American politics and a graphic treatment of the have not always been optimistic. Reconstruction Era. Join the Vermont Humanities Council Mary Lou Kete at our 45th annual Fall Conference Mary Lou Kete teaches nineteenth-century American literature and culture at the to examine how Americans’ sense University of Vermont. She is author of Sentimental Collaborations: Mourning and Middle- of optimism has changed during the class Identity in Nineteenth-Century America, co- nation’s history, and how people editor of Lydia Sigourney: Critical Essays and Cultural Turns, and the nineteenth-century have responded to the good times editor of Women’s Worlds: The McGraw-Hill and the bad. Anthology of Women’s Writing. She has published on a wide range of nineteenth-century writers including Longfellow, Terry-Prince, Whitman, Twain, Wheatley, Oakes-Smith and Emerson.

Page 12 • Vermont Humanities • Autumn 2018

Conference Schedule

Friday, November 16

3:30 pm Registration desk opens

4:00 – 5:15 pm Breakout sessions (see page 14)

5:15 – 6:15 pm Reception

6:15 – 7:30 pm Buffet dinner, optional, reservations required

7:30 – 9:00 pm Racist Ideas in America: From Slavery to Black Lives Matter Ibram X. Kendi, author of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning, will trace the history of racist ideas through American history, including the “dueling dualities” of racial progress and the simultaneous progress of racism. He will consider the relationship between racist ideas and racial discrimination, and offer reason for hope for the future. Saturday, November 17

7:15 – 8:30 am Registration desk open Continental breakfast

8:30 – 9:10 am Welcome Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup, VHC executive director; Rolf Diamant, VHC board chair; presentation of 2018 Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award.

9:10 – 10:25 am Composite Nation: Can America Find a Unifying Historical Narrative Rooted in Progress? Americans’ sense of hope or faith that tomorrow will be better than today has always depended upon not only when one lives, but also who one is. Yale professor and author David Blight considers the ebb and flow of optimism throughout American history in light of this fact, and what this history means for the present and for the future.

10:25 – 10:40 am Break

10:40 – 11:55 am Breakout sessions (see page 14)

11:55 am – 1:00 pm Buffet lunch

1:00 – 2:15 pm The American Pendulum and the Renewal of American Democracy Boston College professor Heather Cox Richardson explores how the economic and political crises of the 1850s, 1890s, and 1920s each created a backlash that inspired Americans to reclaim government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

2:15 – 2:30 pm Break with coffee and tea

2:30 – 3:45 pm Breakout sessions (see page 14)

3:45 – 4:00 pm Break with coffee and tea

4:00 – 5:15 pm Emerson and the Literary Landscape of Optimism Ralph Waldo Emerson’s optimism remains revolutionary. UVM professor Mary Lou Kete discusses the intersection of Emerson’s legendary faith in the future of America and his faith in the power of poetry.

Dr. Kendi’s appearance at Fall Conference 2018 is made possible with support from the Vermont Community Foundation, the Fountain Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, and Patricia Fontaine. Educator scholarships are made possible by a grant from the Bay and Paul Foundations. Breakout Sessions Saturday, 10:40–11:55 am Saturday, 2:30–3:45 pm The Blessed Hope: Optimism and Salvation or Slippery Slope: Women as Apocalypticism in American History Barometers of Democratic Enthusiasm in American History Friday, 4:00 –5:15 pm Randall Balmer explains how, from the earliest days of American history, Protestants have Democracy has been a core element of American How to Be an Antiracist disagreed about interpreting various prophetic identity, but enthusiasm for it has waxed and When the first Black president was elected, passages in the Bible. Their interpretations have waned throughout American history. Ideas about some Americans imagined that their country sometimes inspired great waves of social reform, the place of women can provide a helpful was colorblind, even post-racial. But racism is and other times have spurred Protestants to seek barometer of opinion. Leslie Butler explores very much alive in America, and more overt. the second coming of Jesus and the imminent why the campaign for women’s political rights As many people are coming to see America’s end of history. These various interpretations emerged when it did and why it took so long racial reality, they are trying to understand have impacted the agendas for social reform, and to succeed, and what that timing can tell us racism for the first time. In this deeply personal continue to affect our current political climate. about democratic optimism and/or pessimism. and empowering lecture, Ibram X. Kendi shifts Led by: Randall Balmer, Professor in the Arts and Led by: Leslie Butler, History professor, the discussion from how not to be racist, to how Sciences, Dartmouth College Dartmouth College to be an antiracist, offering direction to those who want to see a real antiracist America. Tribal Nations, Manifest Destiny, and A.R. Ammons’s “Corson’s Inlet”: Led by: Ibram X. Kendi, Professor and Director, the “Dying Indian” American Optimism at the End of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center Department Bruce Duthu considers how Native writers, Twentieth Century of History, American University artists, and other humanists have confounded Ammons’s poem is about taking a seaside walk. and complicated the national origin story. In the Referring to what he is seeing, Ammons Walt Whitman, America’s Great process, they have challenged the United States Optimistic Writer (1926-2001), two-time winner of the National to live up to its professed commitments to Book Award for Poetry, considers the “opposite” Huck Gutman and Mary Lou Kete discuss the justice for Native peoples as expressed in federal of optimism: violence, destruction, and terror. ebb and flow of optimism in Walt Whitman, an law and Indian affairs policy. But he rejects them for an openness to experience optimist among American writers. Yet Whitman Led by: N. Bruce Duthu, Samson Occom Professor that recalls Walden’s last line, “The sun is but a had a darker side, and an awareness of the of Native American Studies, Dartmouth College morning star.” Huck Gutman will walk both history that constrained the nation, not least Visions of Progress experienced and new poetry readers through because a civil war would soon imperil the the poem into the sun. democracy he so deeply loved. Jennifer Raab looks at 19th-century American Led by: Huck Gutman, Professor Emeritus of Led by: Mary Lou Kete, Associate Professor of landscape painters like Thomas Cole, Frederic English, University of Vermont English, University of Vermont, and Huck Church, and Albert Bierstadt to consider how Gutman, Professor Emeritus of English, University artists of that era represented progress and The Ebb and Flow of Optimism in of Vermont used the physical environment to express hope Twentieth-Century America and doubt, past and future, and the local and Mark Stoler will explore the ups and downs of From Here to Nowhere: Utopian Schemes the global. Raab will cover themes such as the American attitudes toward the future in what in American Life relationship between art and science, the has been called “the American Century.” He will settlement of the West, modes of exhibition Since the 17th century, America has been examine the various challenges to our national and display, and tourism and ecology. fertile ground for attempts to engineer society optimism, from the depths of the Great Led by: Jennifer Raab, Professor in the History according to utopian schemes. Randall Balmer Depression in the 1930s through Vietnam and of Art, Yale University considers how The Great Awakening at the Watergate in the 1960s and 1970s, and our turn of the 19th century unleashed a flurry of How the Gilded Age Created the multiple responses to those challenges — responses communitarian experiments, several of which Progressive Era that often succeeded in restoring optimism. had their roots in Vermont. Led by: Mark Stoler, Professor Emeritus of History, Led by: Randall Balmer, Professor in the Arts a The voices of the Progressive Era, including Jane University of Vermont nd Sciences, Dartmouth College Addams, W. E. B. Du Bois, Theodore Roosevelt, and Zitkála-Šá, didn’t come from nowhere. Discussion and Reflection on the Theme Frederick Douglass, In Spite of Heather Cox Richardson explains how they Adam Sargent engages a student-directed dialog articulated a vision for America that had its roots Everything, Optimistic using advance readings and student observations in the runaway capitalism of the Gilded Age. Despite having been an enslaved person, of the conference and its theme. Led by: Heather Cox Richardson, professor teaching a leading abolitionist for decades, and a Led by: 19th-century American history, Boston College Adam Sargent, Harwood Union High School witness of the end of Reconstruction and the History and Humanities teacher and HUHS students establishment of Jim Crow, Frederick Douglass Discussion and Reflection on the Theme had a deep 19th-century belief in progress. Educator Discussion VHC program scholar Suzanne Brown expertly David Blight examines this brilliant, Educators are invited to this facilitated session prominent, and influential American. leads attendees in a discussion of three to four short selections that will explore the tension to discuss the conference themes and connections, Led by: David Blight, Professor of American using advance readings to explore and share History, Yale University between the New World possibility of our young nation and the inevitable confrontation with social potential classroom applications. Led by: circumstance. Participants will receive these theme- Alan Berolzheimer, Historian, The Flow related materials in advance of the conference. of History Led by: Suzanne Brown Conference Details

Conference fee The $129 fee ($79 student) includes all conference programs, continental breakfast, buffet lunch, and snacks. Friday night dinner is not included. An on-site VHC Fall Conference Registration Form bookstore will be open Saturday.

Registration and payment [ Register online at vermonthumanities.org/optimism [ Deadline is November 5. See conference details to left. One person per form. Make checks payable to Register and pay online at Vermont Humanities Council. Mail to 11 Loomis Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 vermonthumanities.org/optimism Contact: [email protected] • 802.262.1355 (preferred) or by using form at right. Space is limited; registration closes on First name ...... Last name ...... November 5 or when all spaces are filled. Company/Organization......

Cancellations: refund less $25 fee until Mailing address ...... November 5; no refund after that date. Town ...... State ...... Zip...... Group rates: discount price for groups Phone (day) ...... E-mail ...... of five or more from an organization (standard group rate: $95; student First VHC conference? (circle) Yes No group rate: $65). Submit one form Special needs (including dietary)? ...... for each participant. Scholarships: Available for those with Conference Activities financial need. Apply by October 26 at FRIDAY BREAKOUT SESSIONS vermonthumanities.org/optimism. 4:00–5:15 pm (please number 1–4 in order of preference) Educator Scholarships: Vermont K-12 educators, as well as Adult Education ...... How to Be an Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi ...... From Here to Nowhere with Randall Balmer and Literacy system educators are ...... Walt Whitman with Huck Gutman eligible for a full scholarship thanks and Mary Lou Kete ...... Frederick Douglass with David Blight to a grant from the Bay and Paul Foundations. Certification letters are SATURDAY BREAKOUT SESSIONS available. Apply by October 26 at 10:40–11:55 am (please number 1–5) 2:30–3:45 pm (please number 1–5) vermonthumanities.org/optimism...... The Blessed Hope with Randall Balmer ...... Salvation or Slippery Slope with Leslie Butler Lodging ...... Tribal Nations with N. Bruce Duthu ...... “Corson’s Inlet” with Huck Gutman Rooms at the DoubleTree by Hilton ...... Visions of Progress with Jennifer Raab Hotel, Burlington are $139 (plus tax)...... Optimism in Twentieth-Century America ...... The Gilded Age with Mark Stoler Rate is good November 16 and 17 with Heather Cox Richardson and expires October 26. For ...... Discussion and Reflection ...... Discussion and Reflection reservations, call 802.865.6600 with Adam Sargent with Suzanne Brown or visit bit.ly/vhc-doubletree18...... Educator Discussion with Alan Berolzheimer

Contact REGISTRATION FEES Richelle Franzoni, 802.262.1355, $129 individual registration ($79 student) $ ...... [email protected]. $35 optional Friday evening dinner $ ...... Page 12: Crop of Achelous and Hercules by Thomas Hart Benton, Donation to the Vermont Humanities Council $ ...... (1889–1975); Page 13 (top to bottom): Pro-suffrage cartoon by Hy Mayer, 1915; immigrant family on Ellis Island looking at Statue TOTAL DUE $ ...... of Liberty, National Park Service; astronaut Buzz Aldrin saluting the US flag on the Moon, July 21, 1969, NASA; protestors marching Check enclosed for $ ...... OR charge to (circle) Visa MC after shooting of Jamar Clark, Minneapolis, MN, November 15, 2015, Fibonacci Blue/Wikipedia Commons; Fort Laramie by Alfred Jacob Miller Card no...... Exp. date ...... CVV code ...... (1810–1874), Walters Art Museum; suffragists J. Hardy Stubbs, Ida Craft, and Rosalie Jones, ca. 1912, Library of Congress. Signature ...... Non-Profit Org. US POSTAGE PAID The Mailing Center 05641

11 Loomis Street Montpelier, Vermont 05602

What are the Humanities?

The Ebb and Flow of Optimism through American History VHC Fall Conference 2018, November 16 and 17

1st Wednesdays Free Public Talks at Nine Libraries around Vermont, October to May

Vermont Reads March in 2019 A Statewide One-Book Community Reading Program

Before Your Time Podcasts Exploring Vermont’s history through its artifacts with the Vermont Historical Society and VTDigger

vermonthumanities.org • 802.262.2626