Video Announcement – Historical Marker Unveiling for Lucy Terry Prince

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Jeff Dexter.
[00:00:02] On Sunday, July 26, from 4 p .m.
[00:00:05] to 5 p .m.,
[00:00:06] Sunderland is unveiling a new Vermont historical marker,
[00:00:10] marking a spot close to where Lucy Terry Prince
[00:00:13] and her family lived.
[00:00:15] Lucy, the earliest known African -American poet,
[00:00:18] lived off of what is now Ondawa Road in Sunderland
[00:00:21] from the late 1700s until her death in 1821.

[00:00:26] Speaker 2: My name is Avis Hayden.
[00:00:27] I have spent countless hours researching Lucy Terry Prince
[00:00:33] and can tell you that she is a remarkable woman.
[00:00:37] She's remarkable for many reasons, foremost among them,
[00:00:41] is that Lucy Prince is our country's first
[00:00:44] African -American poet.
[00:00:47] As a five -year -old girl, she was taken from her African
[00:00:51] village and brought to the colonies as a slave.
[00:00:55] As you can imagine, Lucy experienced many injustices.
[00:01:01] Once the bonds of slavery were released,
[00:01:05] Lucy and her family continued to live a life that was unfair
[00:01:08] and often biased against them.
[00:01:12] Lucy and her family came to Sunderland around 1797,
[00:01:17] hoping to secure a parcel of land.
[00:01:20] But that proved to be a tough challenge.
[00:01:24] They fought eight years through the courts
[00:01:27] just to get a place to live.
[00:01:30] But once they settled here, Lucy, her children
[00:01:34] and her grandchildren were in Sunderland until the 1840s,
[00:01:39] some 50 years.
[00:01:41] If you attend the ceremony, you'll
[00:01:44] learn how the town of Sunderland and eventually
[00:01:48] its citizens made it possible for Lucy and her family
[00:01:53] to live here.
[00:01:55] The state of Vermont now wishes to honor
[00:01:58] this exceptional woman with a historical marker.
[00:02:02] And we look forward to celebrating
[00:02:04] this slice of Sunderland's history.

[00:02:07] Speaker 1: All are welcome to attend the ceremony.
[00:02:09] Again, it will be 4 PM Sunday, July 26,
[00:02:14] at the corner of Hill Farm Road and Ondawa Road in Sunderland.
[00:02:18] Come out to help celebrate Lucy's life
[00:02:20] and this recognition of Black history in our town
[00:02:23] and in our state.