This commentary is by Tom McKone of Montpelier.
The Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh has a long historical reach and two big stories to tell, yet it is less known outside of Addison County and the Champlain Valley than it deserves to be. “Seeking Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Legacy of an Abolitionist Family,” its excellent new exhibit, could change that.
Rokeby, as it is familiarly known, from 1793 until 1961 was the homestead of several generations of the Robinson family, and the well-preserved house and farm buildings — complete with original household, farming, art and literary artifacts — tell the stories of this remarkable family of farmers and artists, and of how Vermonters lived over those 168 years.
The 90-acre farm, nine historic buildings and rotating exhibits in the Education Center are in themselves important; however, that’s not my topic for today.
The new main exhibit has made visiting this 19th century stop on the Underground Railroad and modern stop on Vermont’s African American Heritage Trail essential to acquiring a contemporary and more inclusive understanding of Vermont and American history.
Speaking at the “Seeking Freedom” opening on May 23, executive director Lindsay Houpt-Varner said the previous exhibit about Rokeby’s connection to the Underground Railroad was 10 years old, and since then much has been learned about the history of the site. Plus, American awareness has changed.
The new exhibit, for example, includes an image of George Floyd and addresses current racial and social justice issues, as well as highlighting the work of the ACLU of Vermont, the Vermont Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Peace & Justice Center.
Speaking at the opening, William Nash, professor of American Studies and English at Middlebury College, said the exhibit and the museum’s research put it at the “forefront of local, state and regional history.”
“The history hasn’t changed,” Nash said, “just the breadth and depth of our knowledge about it.”
Nash said our view of history is “shaped and reshaped” by cultural context. As an example, he said the language we select strongly influences how we see things. He said those working on the exhibit paid great attention to word choice. For example, “slave” has been replaced by “enslaved person,” and “master” has been replaced by “enslaver.” “Fugitive/runaway/escaped slaves” are “freedom seekers.”
“The updated language reinforces the idea of a person’s humanity, rather than reducing them to the conditions forced upon them,” Nash said.
“Seeking Freedom” provides a clear overview of slavery and its aftermath, from a Vermont perspective, and openly addresses both the good and the bad.
“From Enslavers to Abolitionists — the Robinson Family,” reads a panel introducing that part of family history.
The first of the Robinson line that later settled in Ferrisburgh arrived in Rhode Island from England in 1676, and at the time of his death in 1716, his estate inventory showed he owned “‘9 Negroes,’ valued together at 375 pounds.” His son, also in Rhode Island, owned 19 enslaved people. The family also participated in shipping enslaved persons. “The wealth earned from the slave economy enabled generations of the Robinson family to establish themselves as one of the most prominent families in Newport,” the exhibit reads.
Down the line, Thomas and Jemina Robinson moved from Rhode Island to Vermont in 1792 and soon bought the land the family would own until 1961, when in her will, Elizabeth Donoway Robinson left it to become a museum.
“Thomas’s descendants, including the abolitionists who lived at Rokeby, inherited this money and the privilege that came with it,” an exhibit panel proclaims in large, bold type. The museum website expands on this: “Thomas established saw, grist, and fulling mills on the Lewis Creek a few miles away and in 1810 purchased some of the first Merino sheep to be imported from Spain, setting Rokeby on the path to distinction as one of the largest sheep farms in the region.”
Thomas and Jemina’s son, Rowland Thomas Robinson, took over the family businesses, but he and his wife, Rachel Gilpin Robinson, became radical abolitionists and “were among the earliest and most outspoken opponents of slavery in Vermont and the U.S. He worked actively in antislavery societies from the local to the national, she kept their home free of (goods made by enslaved persons), and together they sheltered dozens of fugitives from slavery.”
Initially, slavery was legal in all 13 colonies, as well as in Vermont. Although Vermont banned the enslavement of adults in 1777, the 1790 census lists 16 enslaved persons. Ethan Allen’s daughter, Lucy Allen Hitchcock, owned two of them, a 12-year-old boy (which was legal) and his mother (which was not).
Since harboring freedom seekers was against federal law, almost no one kept records about doing so. Rokeby is very unusual because it has clear documentation of some freedom seekers who stayed there. The Robinsons sometimes hired and paid freedom seekers to work on the farm; they lived in the house and worked in full view.
“Seeking Freedom” is informative, visually stimulating, engaging and provocative. It shows that the ramifications of the long, ugly history of slavery and racism are still with us today, and it advocates for change. This exhibit is one more reason — the most important one — for Vermonters and visitors to go to Rokeby.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Tom McKone: Enslavers, abolitionists and the Underground Railroad.