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After months of anticipation and delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a crowd packed into the Statehouse lobby Thursday evening to watch the unveiling of a new portrait: Alexander Twilight, the first person of African descent to serve in a state Legislature and to graduate from a U.S. college. Twilight graduated from Middlebury College in 1823.
More than 225 years after his birth, Twilight is still a first and an outlier: His portrait is the only of a person of color to hang in the Vermont Statehouse.
In the Capitol, there are “86 portraits, now 87,” said Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, speaking at the unveiling ceremony. “Three women, one person of color, no women of color. We have so far to go.”
Twilight’s racial identity fluctuates in historical records, William Hart, professor emeritus of history at Middlebury College, said at Thursday’s ceremony.
Twilight’s father was biracial, and his mother was white, or white-appearing, Hart said. The 1800 census recorded the Twilight family as Black. In 1810, while Twilight was an indentured servant in a neighboring household, the census recorded him in a category titled, “all other free persons, except Indians not taxed.” That same year, the census-taker recorded Twilight’s mother and siblings as white. In all later census data, Twilight was also recorded as white.
“For me, Twilight is an example of an African American, who by virtue of his racial ambiguity, his education, his profession and his spouse, permitted those who knew him to read him as performing whiteness,” Hart said.
The portrait has been in the works since 2020, and was commissioned by the nonprofit Friends of the Statehouse, with funding from National Life. The artist, Katie Runde of Middlebury, was selected from a pool of about 30 applicants, according to Statehouse curator David Schütz.
Runde dug into the history in preparation for the five-foot-tall portrait by reading Twilight’s sermons and his students’ writings. She also spent time at the Old Stone House Museum and Historic Village in Brownington, where Twilight built his school and pastored a congregation.
Runde worked with three different models to get the figure right, she said, which was also challenging because very few images of Twilight exist — and the best are small, scratchy daguerreotypes.
“I had to track down the 1850s menswear, and I was reaching out to theater companies all over the state,” Runde said. “It’s not a hot commodity.”
Gov. Phil Scott and members of the Friends of the Statehouse lifted the red curtain midway through the ceremony. It snagged. The painting skewed. Someone had to fetch a ladder.
“Dear God, someone hold on to the painting,” an onlooker said.
But once the drape was rescued, the crowd faced a five-foot-tall, luminous oil portrait.
Twilight is shown in front of the granite Athenian Hall of the grammar school he ran in Brownington. He holds a Bible in one hand, and in the other, a copy of William Paley’s Natural Theology, a fossil and a daguerreotype of the second Statehouse, where Twilight served one session in 1836. (That session began in October and lasted just six weeks (!), according to the Old Stone House Museum.)
Behind him are his students.
“Notice the girls,” Runde said. Twilight’s school was co-educational, and about a third of the student body were girls.
Twilight’s image in the Statehouse represents a “radically different kind of power,” Runde said.
“This is not leadership through domination,” Runde said. “This is leadership through service and relationship.”
— Riley Robinson
IN THE KNOW
Attorney General TJ Donovan announced Thursday he will not seek reelection, nor is he likely to run for another public office this year.
“I have wrestled with this decision for the past few months and it feels like the right choice,” Donovan said in a press release. “After nearly sixteen years as an elected official (19 years in public service), it is time to take a break from the political world and pursue other opportunities.”
Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Donovan said he did not know whether he would finish out his term as attorney general, which ends in January.
“I would like to, but I don’t think I can commit to that, just given the reality of the situation,” he said.
— Lola Duffort and Riley Robinson
Who will run for attorney general? VTDigger asked several potential Democratic successors.
- Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George: not interested
- Charity Clark, Donovan’s chief of staff: “very seriously considering” a run
- Brooks McArthur, a Burlington attorney: considering running
- Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault: “absolutely considering” a run
- Shap Smith, former Democratic House speaker: declined to comment
Asked if any Republican candidates were lining up, Vermont GOP chair Paul Dame responded: “None to report right now.”
— Alan J. Keays and Riley Robinson
Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington, one of Vermont’s best-known progressive politicians, also announced he is not running for re-election this year.
“This was never meant to be a lifetime appointment or a lifetime career move and I think when it feels more like work than it does like excitement — it’s an indication that it’s time to move on,” he said in an interview Thursday. “I think it’s important to have new voices coming up into the Senate.”
— Lola Duffort
House lawmakers on Thursday imposed a 60% cap on the level of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in cannabis concentrates to be sold at retail establishments when they open in October.
The change was proposed in an amendment offered by Rep. John Gannon, D-Wilmington, and approved by voice vote.
“Cannabis concentrates are an incredibly dangerous product,” Gannon told VTDigger. “They can cause psychosis and other psychiatric problems.”
The Senate has not imposed a limit on THC concentration, and the Cannabis Control Board recommended not having a limit. The amended House bill, H.548, now heads back to the Senate.
— Fred Thys
ON THE MOVE
House lawmakers gave preliminary approval to a bill intended to ban racist and offensive school mascots, overriding objections that the legislation would erode school districts’ autonomy.
“This is an important continuation of Vermont’s work around equity and inclusion in our schools and in our broader communities,” Rep. Jana Brown, D-Richmond, said on the House floor Thursday, citing research about the psychological harm done by offensive mascots to the communities they stereotype.
Critics said the bill would chip away at local officials’ control over their own schools.
“Every year more and more control is taken by this building, and by this town, and by officials in our government in Montpelier,” said Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe. “And it’s taken from the local communities — our local school boards, our local teachers, our local administrators, and most importantly our local students.”
“It’s arrogant to think that we know better than all of those people who do all of the work at the local level to ensure that their kids are educated,” Scheuermann said.
— Peter D’Auria
A bill to update Vermont’s school funding formula is on its way to the governor.
Senate lawmakers voted Thursday to concur with amendments from the House to S.287, which is intended to ensure that state money gets to the school districts that need it the most.
If signed, the bill would lead to a dramatic reshuffling of how and where the state doles out public education dollars to Vermont’s school districts.
Gov. Phil Scott “remains concerned that the bill does not include any cost containment provisions, and that it could add additional pressure to the education fund several years down the line,” Jason Maulucci, a spokesperson for the governor, said in an email. “But that can also be addressed before its full implementation.”
— Peter D’Auria
The House on Thursday advanced one of two big housing bills. S.226 includes money for neighborhood development outside town centers and villages, money for contractors building houses that cost more than they can be appraised for, and help for mobile home parks. It also includes a registry of home contractors opposed by Gov. Phil Scott.
The proposal has few differences with the Senate’s version of the bill. It still requires final passage by the House.
— Fred Thys
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Following back-to-back announcements that two statewide officeholders — Attorney General TJ Donovan and State Treasurer Beth Pearce — would not run for re-election this year, Financial Regulation Commissioner Mike Pieciak has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow at noon. (Gov. Phil Scott announced Pieciak’s pending departure from the administration last week.)
The press contact’s email ends with the URL “mikeforvermont.com”
Whatever, dear reader, could this be about?
— Lola Duffort
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, in her bid for Vermont’s lone seat in the U.S. House, released her workforce policy agenda on Thursday.
“Homes won’t build themselves. Broadband won’t deploy itself. Solar won’t install itself. We must invest in the workers who will build our future,” Gray said Thursday. “These are high-demand, good-paying jobs available in our communities right now.”
Gray’s plan includes bolstering community college and technical training programs, including two free years for students who graduate; expanding student loan forgiveness for those in “high-demand sectors” and union protections for workers who are organizing.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Friday’s special is roasted pork, with potatoes, celery, carrots, a bit of onion and fresh aromatics, per Chef Bryant Palmer. The deli special is a crispy buffalo chicken salad and the grill will have a Ruben-esque sandwich with house-made pastrami.
And, for the early birds in the morning, I hear there will be house-made bacon! So much better than worms.
— Riley Robinson
WHAT WE’RE READING
Post-Roe, Vermont could see an influx of out-of-state patients seeking abortions (VTDigger)
Vermont Foodbank seeks more state funding as needs rise and pandemic aid dries up (VTDigger)
Bee Protection Bill Advances in Vermont Senate (Seven Days)
The great bagel debate: Finding the best bagels in and around Vermont (VPR)
