Histories of Struggle: Middlebury, Town and Gown

In this upper-level seminar, students will examine the historical experiences of Black, PoC, female, LBGTQ, gender non-conforming, and “othered” persons at Middlebury College and in the town, circa 1800-2020. Students will access digital sources housed at Special Collections (Davis Library) and at the Stewart-Swift Research Center (Henry Sheldon Museum) on a range of topics, including race, gender, and sexuality in the contexts of anti-slavery, colonization, eugenics, temperance, women’s rights, and entertainment. Students will receive either BLST or HIST CW credit, for which they will produce 25-page essays. The essays will be archived in Special Collections for use by future researchers. At the conclusion of the course, students will be invited to translate their essays into publicly exhibited Twilight Projects, for which they will receive a small stipend.