The Underground Railroad: Vermont and the Fugitive Slave
Artist: Sam Kerson
Year: 2020
Date of Action: July 2020 - December 2020
Region: North America
Location: South Royalton, Vermont
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Painting, Public Art
Confronting Bodies: The Vermont Law and Graduate School
Description of Artwork: The mural is titled "The Underground Railroad: Vermont and the Fugitive Slave," intended to highlight Vermont's role in the abolitionist movement. The mural had remained there for three decades. At the Chase Community Center since 1993, Sam Kerson’s mural depicts enslaved people and the history of the Underground Railroad in Vermont. According to the artist’s website, Kerson intended for the mural to “celebrate the efforts of black and white Americans in Vermont and throughout the United States to achieve freedom and justice.” However, since 2013, the mural spurred discussions about its inaccurate depiction of Black people.
The Incident: Student concerns regarding the mural began in 2013, but in 2020, several students wrote an open letter to the school asking for the mural to be removed. They cited that the exaggerated facial features with the Black figures were racially insensitive. On July 6, 2020, VLS Dean Thomas McHenry announced that the school would paint over Kerson’s mural. The Vermont Law School students hope that the removal of Kerson’s mural will allow for a Black artist to paint a new mural which accurately depicts Black people and narratives. Kerson told the Valley News that he equated the mural’s removal to “burning books.”
Results of Incident: The state court gave permission to the Vermont Law and Graduate School to cover up the mural in 2021. The artist, Sam Kerson, appealed the decision in federal court, citing the covering up as a violation of the federal Visual Artists Rights Act, protecting artists' work from mutilation and distortion. The Vermont Law and Graduate School received the support from the ACLU to have the right to remove the mural. A decision has yet to be released, but the mural remains covered currently with large white panels.
Source:
https://www.wcax.com/2023/01/27/should-vermont-law-school-be-allowed-remove-controversial-mural/
https://www.vnews.com/Vermont-Law-School-says-artist-can-remove-mural-35395900
