Elise Guyette earns award

Dateline: September 30, 2011

Montpelier, Vt. – Elise A. Guyette recently received the Vermont Historical Society’s prestigious Richard O. Hathaway Award for her book, Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890.

Guyette’s book paints a rich portrayal of early settlement life in Vermont for African Americans by re-creating the daily lives of black individuals and families who built a community in Hinesburg.  As the first book published about a free black community in Vermont, Guyette is currently using it as a springboard to educate Vermonters about the cultural diversity throughout the history of our state and encouraging others to seek out unique populations within their own communities.

The Hathaway Award was created to recognize outstanding work in the field of Vermont history. It is dedicated to the memory of Richard O. Hathaway, whose lifelong work teaching Vermont history was an inspiration to his colleagues and to the many students he taught and mentored, both inside and outside academia. The annual Hathaway Award, which includes a $1,000 cash prize, recognizes an outstanding contribution to the field of Vermont history completed, published, released or presented during the previous calendar year.