Reading Frederick Douglass: South Burlington Community Library

Library Director Jennifer Murray credits the Vermont Humanities Council's 2015 Fall Conference for “really opening my mind to the humanities.” She left the conference convinced that the humanities offer a way for people to “think things through and learn from each other as they engage in the pursuit of knowledge.”

That perspective influenced the library’s decision to host a Reading Frederick Douglass event in June, 2016. Participants took turns reading aloud Douglass’ famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

Following the reading, community members lingered in the library for a lengthy, and sometimes cathartic, discussion about racism. “Even a month afterward, people told me how important it was to be involved,” says Barbara Ziemann, Public Service Librarian. “That gave me a real sense of the impact a single program can have.”

More about the Reading Frederick Douglass program: https://www.vermonthumanities.org/programs/public-programs/reading-frederick-douglass/

Видео Reading Frederick Douglass: South Burlington Community Library канала Vermont Humanities