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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.
Sculpture honors 1st Black president of U.S. College Sculpture honors 1st Black president of U.S. College
The first Black president of an American college is being honored with a sculpture installed in the Vermont city where …
A sculpture of Martin Henry Freeman, the first Black college president in the United States, is on display on the sculpture trail in downtown Rutland, Vt., where he was born in 1826. Mr. Freeman, an 1849 graduate of Middlebury College, became president in 1856 of Allegheny Institute, which later became Avery College, in Pittsburgh. Photo by Lisa Rathke/Associated Press
RUTLAND, Vt. – The first Black president of an American college is being honored with a sculpture installed in the Vermont city where he was born in 1826.
The first Black president of an American college is being honored with a sculpture installed in the Vermont city where he was born in 1826.
The larger-than-life marble bust of scholar Martin Henry Freeman sits on a stack of books in a downtown square as part of the Rutland Sculpture Trail.
âItâs a very soft, gentle portrayal of Martin Freeman,â said Al Wakefield, one of the sponsors of the piece that was installed in November. âI donât know how many people remember either through historical writings what kind of person he was, but heâs depicted as a very gentle, kind, literary, artsy kind of a guy.â