Saturday Jan 17, 2015
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM EST
January 17th through January 19th
9:30am-4:30pm
Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home
1005 Hildene Road
Manchester, VT
(802)362-1788
HILDENE’S SUNBEAM SOUTHERNMOST STOP ON VERMONT AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE TRAIL
As Americans prepare to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King on the January 17-19 holiday weekend, those in The Shires of Vermont, may not be aware that Hildene, presidential son Robert Lincoln’s Manchester home, is a stop on the Vermont African American Heritage Trail. The Trail invites visitors to tour destinations and experience exhibits that speak to Vermont’s place in African American history. Executive Director of Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, Curtiss Reed, who played a key role in the development of the trail, noted that while census records indicate that Vermont’s African American population has always been a fraction of the overall population, “The history is here. African Americans fought alongside Ethan Allen as members of The Green Mountain Boys and by 1810 Vermont was welcoming African Americans to establish roots in the state’s rocky soil as evidenced by enclaves of early black settlers in Hinesburg, Guilford and Grafton, Vermont. It is exciting that this history and more will be available to Vermont’s many visitors.” www.vermontpartnership.org.
At Hildene, the trail’s southernmost site, visitors discover a thought provoking exhibit, “Many Voices” at the meticulously restored 1903 Pullman palace car, Sunbeam. In this presentation Robert, president of the Pullman Company from 1897 to 1911, is paradoxically linked with his famous father, Abraham Lincoln. At the turn of the century the Pullman Company was the largest employer of African Americans in the country, offering slaves freed by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment jobs as Pullman porters. In spite of the exploitive environment in which they worked, these men were able to better their lives and those of their families, helping to give rise to America’s black middle class. “Many Voices,” highlights the voices of the Pullman Company, the Gilded Age passengers who traveled in its comfort, the porters who provided the impeccable service that made the company successful and the voices of the staff and visitors who experience the exhibit.
The legacies of Pullman President, Robert Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator; A. Philip Randolph, labor organizer and champion of the Pullman porters; and Martin Luther King, celebrated civil rights leader are brought to mind in the exhibit’s timeline overview that spans the 100 years from the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington where Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph marched together, both delivering powerful remarks. It is in King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech that he calls for an end to racism in the U.S.
Sunbeam and the exhibit also provide a platform for a first of its kind education program, “Pullman Porters: Unsung Heroes.” The rail car is the backdrop against which students discover the critical role that porters played in giving rise to America’s black middle class, the formation of the black labor movement, and the momentum for the civil rights movement. To learn more about this Hildene education program and others, visit www.hildene.org/schools.html.
Guided by his mission: Values into Action, Hildene uses Sunbeam to present a slice of American history that is illuminating and challenging in its content, one that raises questions and is intended to stimulate and encourage civil discourse.
To learn more about the Vermont African American Heritage Trail visit www.vermontvacation.com/africanamericanheritagetrail.