Covered Murals

Northern Vermont fog

While driving on a foggy Sunday morning from my son’s home in Vermont to my daughter’s home in New York, I intersected with the path of my bike ride in a most interesting place, South Royalton VT. Back on Tuesday, when I was racing from Middlebury VT to Lyme NH, combining three days’ rides into one to get to Portland before Hurricane Lee, I bypassed a stay in South Royalton at a B&B owned by a woman named Evelyn. She spoke of accommodations in a corn crib and a barn and I was curious to see them. Unfortunately, she was away selling her wares at a farmers’ market and they were occupied by guests, so I couldn’t see them.

However, on Evelyn’s porch was Ariana in a hammock swing. She asked if she could help me. I told her why I was there and asked to leave a note for Evelyn. Then I asked if I could take photos of Evelyn’s buildings. She said the law student in her could not give me a definite answer to that question. I said I’d take the photos and then ask Evelyn if I could share them. Evelyn texted me yes.

Evelyn’s house

Evelyn’s corn crib accommodations

Evelyn’s barn

It was the law student comment that got my ear for I was chasing down a story about a controversy regarding a mural at the Vermont Law School in town. Ariana knew all about it because the controversy burst on her very first day at law school. She explained that I could see the covered mural in Chase Center on campus, so I took my chase to Chase Center. It took a while to find the mural and it turned out that there were two. The building seemed deserted but finally a live person wandered through. I inquired and she took me right to the spot of the second mural. There were no signs or any indication of the controversy that I could find on display. It was uncanny.

The murals, painted directly onto sheet rock in 1993, depict Vermont’s role in the Underground Railroad. So far so good. But Black people in the mural were painted in “cartoonish” and “racist” ways, according to critics. Students at the school were uncomfortable with the representation of Black people. The law school’s response, in 2020, was to cover the murals.

Banner over one of the murals in dispute

The other covered mural

The artist sued the law school for destroying his work. The school had only covered the murals without destroying them. The case was resolved on August 24 this year. It gave the law school the right to cover the murals.

https://www.cnn.com/style/vermont-law-school-slavery-mural-lawsuit/index.html

I have further questions, though. Why were the murals there in the first place? Were they commissioned? Did the artist provide proofs before painting the walls? If so, did someone approve them?

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Now that the bike trip is over, my posts will dwindle, but I plan to post at least one more time when I learn if the record is approved. It should not take two to six months the way it took for the previous records as the new process is much more efficient.

Diane Jenks posted the podcast of the interview we did in person in Mentor, Ohio, just east of Diane’s home in Cleveland, the day after my big fall.

https://outspokencyclist.com/2023/09/show-636-september-17-2023/

I still need to add up the cumulative elevation gain.

© 2023 Lynnea C Salvo

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