Black Politics in the Yankee Republic, 1775 – 1860 (Virtual Program)

The Vermont Historical Society will host “Black Politics in the Yankee Republic, 1775 – 1860,” a virtual program with Van Gosse, looking at politics in Vermont, with focus on notable Black Vermonters like Lemuel Haynes and Alexander Twilight, set for Wednesday, February 16th.

A veteran of the American Revolution, Lemuel Haynes was the first black man in the United States to be ordained as a minister. Haynes was a native of West Hartford, Connecticut, and was the son of an African-American man and a white woman.

Alexander Lucius Twilight was an American educator, minister and politician. He is the first African-American man known to have earned a bachelor’s degree from an American college or university, graduating from Middlebury College in 1823.

This talk will explore the political world of Vermont, one of four Upper New England states where African Americans enjoyed full political equality, voting, and participating in party politics from the Revolution through the Civil War.

Van Gosse is a Franklin and Marshall College Professor of History, and author of The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America, From the Revolution to the Civil War.

This program will begin at noon. For more information or to register, click here.