Citizenship Throughout Vermont’s History

The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site was the setting this past Friday, October 23, 2009, for an engaging and lively conference on Citizenship, “The Citizen in the Community: Roles, Responsibility, and Action”, sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation and Flow of History.

William Jenney, Site Administrator, opened the conference with a quote from Calvin Coolidge about his life growing up in Plymouth Notch and noted the significance of this authentic and well‐preserved presidential birthplace. Coolidge’s Autobiography contains many descriptions of his involvement in his community.

Keynote speaker, Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz, took the podium and described the similarity of citizenship and neighborliness. Our interdependence provides the well being of our communities. As sunlight filtered into the Union Church, it was easy to contemplate the value of interdependence in 19th century Plymouth Notch where Calvin Coolidge grew up seeing his father play his many roles in the village. Markowitz emphasized that knowing Vermont history can make citizenship flourish. She enthusiastically told the earlier story of Vermont’s Constitution that included the banning of slavery, the establishment of public schools, and voting rights even if men did not own property.

Secretary of State Markowitz then reported on studies of Vermont high school students showing that only one in five voted when they were of age. This poor record was dramatically improved by holding mock elections in schools and especially in polling places. Her office puts out a variety of publications available to teachers to use including materials on mock elections, one on town meeting, an essential part of Vermont’s participatory citizenship, and another on how a bill becomes law. (Order online at www.sec.state.vt/kids/publications.html.) Vermont is growing increasingly diverse. Markowitz noted that at a recent naturalization ceremony, 36 nations were represented and how moving it is to see what becoming Americans means to these people from many different countries.

Cyndy Bittinger, former Executive Director of the Coolidge Foundation, teacher, and VPR commentator, described her research and writing for the radio about African Americans seeking and using their citizenship rights in early 1800’s Vermont. She told of Alexander Twilight who graduated from Middlebury College, built a four story stone school in Brownington, and served in the state legislature. Lucy Prince, the first known African American poet, argued her case for her right to live in her home before Governor Chittenden. (Read the whole story in the book, Mr. and Mrs. Prince by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina.)

Three hands‐on sessions rounded out the afternoon. Diane Kemble, Education Coordinator for the Coolidge Foundation, led participants in making a “cupboard” book, which resembles an album and has many possibilities for displaying student work inspired by historical documents such as letters, maps, and town reports. Alan Berolzheimer from Flow of History, led discussion using the primary source documents relating to Coolidge’s Plymouth. Amy Mincher, Collections Manager for the Coolidge Site, showed how a few of the letters from the Robinson family at Rokeby in Ferrisburgh showed how one former slave tried to gain his official freedom even though he was well out of reach of his former owner. The day ended with a tour of the historic site where Coolidge grew up, was sworn in as the 30th President, and to which he returned.