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Because Ideas Matter
The Vermont Humanities Council seeks to engage all Vermonters in the world of ideas, foster a culture of thoughtfulness, and inspire a lifelong love of reading and learning. Learn more about our programs.
Vermont Reads 2019
March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. Learn more.
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Designed for specific underserved and at-risk audiences. Learn more.
Upcoming Events
Fri
16
How to Be an Antiracist
November 16
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
In this deeply personal and empowering lecture, Ibram X. Kendi shifts the discussion from how not to be racist, to how to be an antiracist, offering direction to those who want to see a real antiracist America. (Registration required.)
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Fri
16
From Here to Nowhere: Utopian Schemes in American Life
November 16
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Randall Balmer considers how The Great Awakening at the turn of the 19th century unleashed a flurry of utopian experiments, several of which had their roots in Vermont. (Registration required.)
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Fri
16
Frederick Douglass, In Spite of Everything, Optimistic
November 16
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Despite having been an enslaved person, a leading abolitionist for decades, and a witness of the end of Reconstruction and the establishment of Jim Crow, Frederick Douglass had a deep 19th-century belief in progress. David Blight examines this brilliant, prominent, and influential American. (Registration required.)
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Fri
16
Walt Whitman, America’s Great Optimistic Writer
November 16
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Huck Gutman and Mary Lou Kete discuss the ebb and flow of optimism in Walt Whitman, an optimist among American writers, and yet one with a darker side. (Registration required.)
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