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Rutland, Vermont, celebrated a new public sculpture Thursday that honors a trailblazer in higher education.
The bust of Martin Henry Freeman was installed late last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic meant the sculpture’s dedication had to be delayed until now. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
Martin Henry Freeman was born in Rutland 195 years ago. His grandfather earned his freedom from slavery by fighting in the Revolutionary War.
According to organizers of the Downtown Rutland Sculpture Trail, Freeman was among the very first Black students to go to college in Vermont. He went on to become a leading abolitionist and even the first Black man to lead a college in the United States as president before the Civil War.
Mon, 05/03/2021 - 11:50am John McCright Anaïs Mitchell
MIDDLEBURY Anaïs Mitchell, acclaimed playwright, composer and musician, will deliver the 2021 Middlebury College Commencement address on Saturday, May 29. A New Haven native, 1999 graduate of Mount Abraham Union High School and 2004 Middlebury College graduate, Mitchell is the creative force behind the hit musical “Hadestown.”
One of the leading artistic voices of her generation, Mitchell began work on “Hadestown” a reimagination of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice years before it appeared on Broadway. The production debuted in Barre, Vermont, in 2006 before it toured across New England. Mitchell gained international recognition following the premiere of “Hadestown” in Alberta, London and then New York, where it opened in 2019. Later that year “Hadestown” went on to win eight Tony Awards and Mitchell won the Tony Award for Best Original Score. In 2020 the show also won
Hadestown.
One of the leading artistic voices of her generation, Mitchell began work on
Hadestown a reimagination of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice years before it appeared on Broadway. The production debuted in Barre, Vermont, in 2006 before it toured across New England.
Mitchell gained international recognition following the premiere of
Hadestown in Alberta, London, and then New York, where it opened in 2019.
Later that year
Hadestown went on to win eight Tony Awards and Mitchell won the Tony Award for Best Original Score. In 2020 the show also won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Anaïs Mitchell stands apart from all other modern singer-songwriters for her imagination, storytelling, and tremendous songwriting talent, said Middlebury President Laurie Patton.
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Black women persevere to lead in Vermont despite harassment
In this Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, photo, Mia Schultz, president of the Rutland area branch of the NAACP, poses for a picture, in Bennington, Vt. Schultz has watched three other Black women in Vermont resign from leadership posts because of harassment and threats and has seen Black acquaintances move away from the progressive state because they felt unwelcome. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
In this Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, photo, Mia Schultz, president of the Rutland area branch of the NAACP, right, walks with town Select Board candidate Tina Cook past a Black Lives Matter mural on a street in Bennington, Vt. A number of protesters, including some who carried an anti-Black Lives Matter sign, stood in the way during painting of the mural, forcing those working on the mural to paint around their feet and bodies blocking the letters. Cook came up short in the March 2 election in her effort to become the first African American elected