Judge rules Vermont Law School can hide controversial murals depicting slavery

Ruling on a lawsuit brought by a Vermont artist, a federal judge allowed Vermont Law School to conceal two murals, “Vermont, The Underground Railroad” and “Vermont and the Fugitive Slave,” both of which had generated complaints that they depict enslaved Africans in an offensive manner.

Key Players

Founded in 1972, Vermont Law School (VLS) is a private law school in the town of Royalton, Vermont, about 35 miles south of Montpelier, the state capital. 

Artist Samuel Kerson is a painter, engraver, and muralist whose work often depicts events and folktales with a mythic lens. In 1993, he painted the 8-by-24-foot murals with the help of some assistants and has murals on display in Nicaragua and the Vermont Agency of Human Services in Waterbury, Vermont.

VLS students Jameson Davis and April Urbanowski circulated a letter and petition arguing that, despite Kerson’s best intentions to create a piece of unifying art, the imagery in the murals is racist.

Further Details

According to his website, Kerson created the murals to “[celebrate] the efforts of black and white Americans in Vermont and throughout the United States to achieve freedom and justice.” The first mural depicts enslaved Africans being sold and whipped by an enslaver, while the second depicts some escaping to Vermont through the Underground Railroad.

Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, Davis and Urbanowski campaigned against Kerson’s murals being on display in the Chase Community Center of VLS. 

On June 30, 2020, Davis and Urbanowski emailed a letter to several students and alumni making the case that the murals should be removed, according to The Forum. They said the murals caricatured enslaved Africans to such an extent that multiple students of color found it “inaccurate and dispiriting” and refused to walk by the artwork.  Seventy-three students and 39 alumni co-signed the letter, which was sent to Dean Thomas McHenry. Later, 70 additional alumni showed their support for the removal of both murals. 

In addition to the exaggerated depiction of the enslaved people, Davis told The Forum that responses to the murals were “overwhelming negative,” eliciting confusion as to what they represented, as well as concern as to why the white colonizers were depicted with green faces before the emancipation and then with white faces after. 

Davis and Urbanowski requested the school replace the murals with “an updated and more inclusive and accurate depiction of African American History, African American advocacy, and African American … celebration in America and Vermont,” adding that, once they were removed, “students of the future will not have to be uncomfortable anywhere on campus.” 

In July 2020, McHenry announced the murals would be painted over, stating in an email they were “offensive to many in our community,” and that it is “not consistent with our School’s commitment to fairness, inclusion, diversity, and social justice.” 

According to Seven Days, Kerson objected to painting over the murals. In order not to destroy his work, VLS gave Kerson time to remove them himself, but carpenters determined both panels would have to be cut into pieces to be removed. Instead, VLS decided the murals would be permanently covered with acoustic panels that would not touch or damage the artwork.   

On Dec. 2, 2020, Kerson filed a complaint alleging the removal of the murals violated the federal Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), which safeguards against “intentional distortion, mutilation, or modification” of an artist’s work. According to Reuters, Kerson’s lawyers also said concealing the work would stain Kerson’s reputation as “offensive” and “unworthy to be viewed.”

Outcome 

Judge rules in favor of VLS 

According to VTDigger, on Oct. 20, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford granted the motion to dismiss Kerson’s suit, ruling that VLS’s plan to hide the murals behind acoustic tiles did not violate VARA. 

“The murals will have the same status as a portrait or bust that is removed from public exhibition and placed in storage,” Crawford wrote, while noting the school had received complaints about the murals since at least 2001.

Steven Hyman, one of Kerson’s lawyers, argued that Crawford ignored that VARA is meant “to preserve our cultural history and protect the honor and reputation of the artists who contribute so much to that history.” According to VTDigger, Kerson plans to appeal the decision to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

As of Nov. 2, 2021, there were no further developments in the case.