Vermont Life and the Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement took place in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. The movement pushed for the an end to racial inequality in the country and for black Americans to have equal rights in the U.S.
The magazine Vermont Life was published between the years of 1946 and 2018 in order to attract people to the state through articles and images that painted an idealized image of Vermont.
This website begins by providing a quick summary of major events that took place during the civil rights movement. The site then moves on to examine they ways in which Vermont Life incorporates race into articles from its 1950s and 1960s issues while simultaneously establishing itself as "separate" from the "race talk" that dominated the nation at this time.
Summary of Key Events in the Civil Rights Movement
Brown vs Board of Education
Little Rock Nine
March on Washington
MLK's Assassination
Emmett Till's Murder
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Selma to Montgomery
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts
Greensboro Sit-Ins
Voting Rights Act: 1965
Civil Rights Act: 1968
Although the United States of the 1950s and 1960s was filled with "race talk," the magazine Vermont Life claimed to make an effort to "stay out of" any and all potentially controversial debates, including those around race.
In its Autumn issue of 1956, Vermont Life published an article detailing Vermont's past as a historically republican state. The magazine made sure, however, to include the following note by the editor on the first page of the publication.
In including this disclaimer, Vermont Life worked to assert itself as "above" and "out of the way" of any political debate between the Republican and Democratic Parties that was taking place at the time. The magazine effectively stationed itself as removed from the greater "problems" of America.
Vermont Life did not just attempt to remove itself from politics. The magazine also worked hard to establish itself as separate from the Civil Rights Movement and world of race talk that dominated the 1950s and 1960s by avoiding almost all explicit mentioning of race. However, despite these attempts the magazine was unable to fully "remove" itself from race talk. The following articles were published in the magazine over the course of the 1950s and 1960s and demonstrate instances in which Vermont Life discussed or passed judgement on the "race debate," albeit indirectly.
"DIVERSION"
"COTTON BABES"
Winter, 1950
"INVASION OF OUR TRADITIONAL LIBERTIES"
Summer, 1955
Winter, 1963
"CRIME"
Autumn, 1954
Spring, 1960
Winter, 1968
"LEGAL VOTERS"
Spring, 1955
Spring, 1960 (II)
