Lucy Speaks
A Mobile Exhibit from
the Brattleboro Words Project
The first known African American poet was former slave who lived in Guilford.
“Lucy Speaks,” was a museum-quality exhibit designed by Amy Beecher; housed within a customized, 7×16′ cargo trailer, and sent on tour throughout Southern Vermont in the fall of 2017. This innovative, mobile exhibit celebrated the life of Lucy Terry Prince, a former slave; an eloquent advocate for equal treatment under the law and the first known African American poet.
The exhibit featured a dramatic reading by Shanta Lee Gander and a dance performance by Moon Livingston.
Team
Curator/Designer
Amy Beecher
Curatorial Team
Jerry Carbone
Sandy Rouse
Lissa Weinmann
Sarah Kovach
Jerry Stockman
Performance
Shanta Lee Gander
Moon Livingston
Tags
Fall 2017
Brick-n-Mortar
Photos by Reggie Martell
The Project
MILES rolled out the exhibit in front of Key Bank on Main Street from.
MILES
The Mobile, Interactive, Literary Exhibition Space is a mini, mobile museum, providing an immersive experience.
On the Radio
Shanta Lee Gander and Stephanie Greene discuss MILES and Lucy Speaks on Green Mountain Mornings with Olga Peters.
Watch the Video
Brooks Library Talk
Storyteller/writer Shanta Lee Gander spoke about rights, witness and voice through the lens of Lucy Terry Prince’s life.
Watch the Video
Bars Fight
Shanta Lee Gander’s dramatic portrayal of Lucy Terry Prince’s most famous poem.
A Notion
Marlboro College Art Professor Amy Beecher curated and designed the exhibit with Curatorial team Jerry Carbone, Sandy Rouse, Lissa Weinmann and Sarah Kovach. “Lucy’s story and the whole Words Project are inspiring Marlboro College students to become actively engaged in Brattleboro as an incredibly rich learning environment,” MILES curator Amy Beecher said.
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August, twas the twenty-fifth, Seventeen houndred forty-six,
The Indians did in ambush lay, Some very valiant men to slay…
– Lucy Terry Prince, Bars Fight
Performance
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, scholar and author of Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary Eighteenth Century Family Moved Out of Slavery and into Legend, inspired much of the exhibit and she will be a featured speaker at the festival from 9:30 am-10:45 am on Saturday, October 14th, at the Centre Congregational Church. She will be reading with Wendy Warren, author of New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.