Vibrant Lives
Discovering Our Roots of Black Vermont
Vibrant Lives: Discovering Our Roots of Black Vermont is a community-driven public oral history initiative illuminating the often-unseen histories, stories, and living legacies of Black Vermonters—past, present, and future.
The multimedia project, featuring audio-visual essays on a website and a public photo exhibit at the Fletcher Free Library starting February 28, is an oral history focused on Black residents of Burlington, Vermont. Support for this first phase has provided the initial "seed planting" this year. Over time, Vibrant Lives seeks to build a representative "community archive" of diverse voices, ultimately illustrating the changing character of Vermont and contributing to public conversations about these demographic shifts.
The project involves youth in conducting the interviews, an approach that not only honors the participants’ stories but also provides young interviewers with an opportunity for direct experiential learning from African descendants who have made and continue to make vital contributions to the community.
By gathering stories from a diverse group of people across different generations, Vibrant Lives aims to create a collection of vital, untold narratives. These accounts are deeply connected to the rich, often overlooked, history of Vermont. The initiative works to bridge cultural gaps and promote understanding among all Vermonters, offering audiences a chance to learn about the presence and perspectives of African Americans—whether native-born, immigrant, or newcomer—who have sought to achieve the American dream and contribute positively to their community.
Rooted in the spirit of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, first inaugurated as Negro History Week by visionary scholar Carter G. Woodson, the Vibrant Lives project champions Dr. Woodson's conviction: that understanding history is essential to our shared humanity. The work also draws inspiration from the moral imagination of Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision of the Beloved Community—a space where truth, dignity, justice, and collective care guide public life.
Amid division, erasure, and deep social reckoning, the Vibrant Lives project asserts that shared stories are a necessity, not an option. In this space, art serves as testimony, literacy as liberation, and intergenerational dialogue as a path toward mutual belonging.
The oral histories gathered for Vibrant Lives highlight several powerful, common themes:
identity and belonging
family roots, migration and cultural traditions
reclaiming heritage and history
resilience and survival
education as a tool of freedom and justice
dignity, and interdependence
community, connection, and empowerment
compassion, equity advocacy, and service,
family and community values
messages for next generation
and the enduring strength of faith, hope, and moral courage
Together, these voices affirm what must always be said clearly: Black lives matter—and they are essential to the wholeness of Vermont’s story.
Sponsors and Funders
Funders
Sponsors
Donors/Supporters
Contributors
Rajnii Eddins
Project Coordinator, Recruitment, Narrative Design
René Rentería
Photography, Videography, Community Archivist/Documentarian/Historian, Creative Content Strategist, Project Manager, Art Preparator, Exhibition Designer
Salma Badra
Productions
Seamus Brennan
Productions
Brian Clifford
Web Development
Learn More
In 2024, René Rentería and Rajnii Eddins met at Fletcher Free Library. In that house of stories, something quietly profound took shape. Surrounded by memory and possibility, the seed for a new home of shared narrative was planted. From that moment, Vibrant Lives Project: Discovering Our Roots of Black Vermont was born—grounded in a deep love for storytelling and a clear understanding that Black communities across the African Diaspora, and Vermont at large, deserve a space where their stories are honored with care, dignity, and humanity.
The vision grew through attentive listening—to elders, artists, educators, organizers, and families whose lives reflect resilience, creativity, joy, and truth. Vibrant Lives preserves essential history while connecting youth and community members to lived wisdom and diverse pathways of becoming. It affirms identity, shared humanity, nurtures new possibility, and invites reflection across generations.
As of 2026, with fifteen powerful oral histories recorded, the project stands ready to unveil its first iteration as a traveling, living museum exhibit—animated by voices, images, and stories that honor the past while shaping the future. We invite you to stay connected and support this community-rooted effort as it continues to grow, reaching hearts across Vermont, New England, the nation, and beyond.
