A Social Justice Primer — “How to Be an Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi — How to Be an Antiracist

Book Review: “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” details Kendi’s journey and growing awareness of how racism informs his own life and thoughts. Along the way, he has taught himself how to be an anti-racist, and through his book, he speaks of and to himself as much as to the reader.

Righting the Erasure of Black History and Creating an Inclusive American Story

On February 2, 2021, Rokeby Museum hosted a virtual Black History Month Lecture that explored current efforts to recognize and right missing historical narratives in history. Three panelists joined the conversation to discuss their research and community work… Read More

“Delightful, Complex, and Real People.”

“Danvis Tales: Selected Stories by Rowland E. Robinson”

Today’s readers will find both enjoyment and discomfort in Rowland Evans Robinson’s writings. Rokeby feels that Vermont poet and R.E.R. editor and enthusiast David Budbill (1940–2016) explores these dichotomies best in his preface to “Danvis Tales: Selected Stories by Rowland E. Robinson.”

Book Review: Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent”

Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste”

“…Wilkerson pries open the lid on this country’s racism and exposes the underlying truth—that from the beginning, America has created a caste society, Whites on the top, those of African descent on the bottom.”

The Jagged Edges of Progress

From 1793–1961, the inhabitants of Rokeby lived through points of heightened hopes for African descended people as well as violent backlashes against people of color. This article, in three parts, explores those high and low points as well as the tentacles of that history that reach into the present.

From Vigil to Protest: Where Next?

Honour Their Names Protest; Montpelier, VT, June 7, 2020

At Rokeby Museum we have embarked on the challenge of adding advocacy for social and racial justice to our mission. In light of renewed efforts to disrupt and dispel white supremacy after the murder of George Floyd, I have been thinking about what this means. What might it mean to be a co-conspirator?

Down on the Farm: Living under the Cloud of COVID-19 as an Immigrant Farm Worker in Addison County

Down on the Farm: Living under the Cloud of COVID-19 as an Immigrant Farm Worker in Addison County

Vermont is home to over 1,200 Latinx farm workers, most from southern Mexico and Central America. Several hundred live and work in Addison County.

COVID-19 and Systemic Racism in the U.S.

COVID-19 and Systemic Racism in the U.S.

“A common danger unites even the bitterest of enemies,” said the philosopher Aristotle. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed fault lines that separate people of color and whites, and it continues to shine a light on the terrible effect that white supremacy and structural racism have had historically in America.

A Time to Listen, a Time to Learn, and a Time to Act

Black Lives Matter protest in Montpelier, VT

Rokeby Museum stands in full support of demonstrators seeking racial justice. We urge close listening to Black voices; learning about historic injustice and pervasive inequalities; and supporting the end to systemic racism.

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