For five days each August, audiences step back in time as High Plains Chautauqua (HPC) recreates the turn-of-the-century traveling tent Chautauqua that brought education and entertainment to communities in the form of lectures, concerts, and plays.  In 2007, HPC will embark on a three-year series examining the "American identity," bringing to the Chautauqua tent historic characters who demonstrate uniquely American traits. In this first year of “The American Spirit,” HPC will focus on the colonial and Revolutionary War period, when colonists began to see themselves no longer as English subjects, but as Americans.

Each evening, following period music at 6 p.m., we will meet two notable early Americans under the Big Tent on Aims Community College campus.

Wednesday, August 8   Hector St. John De Crevecoeur recorded his observations about the unique characteristics of “this new American” in Letters from an American Farmer, 1782.

Abigail Adams reminded her husband to “Remember the ladies” in the new code of law, for “we ... will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

Thursday, August 9     
Jamestown colonist and husband to Pocahontas, John Rolfe was an entrepreneur who saved the failing Virginia Company by introducing a better strain of tobacco as a cash crop, and he initiated the transition from “common storehouse” to widespread private property ownership.

Alexander Hamilton overcame the greatest odds, including impoverishment and illegitimacy, toplay a pivotal role in defining a new nation. His vision and spirit continue to dominate the American culture and economy today.

Friday, August 10        
Thomas Jefferson embodies many of the paradoxes of American life.  A slave owner, he stated a core American value in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.” 

Benjamin Banneker, the son of a former slave and a farmer of modest means, was an accomplished scientist who challenged Thomas Jefferson to live up to this declaration of equality.

Saturday, August 11     
Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for the “crime” of expressing religious beliefs that were different from those of the colony’s rulers.

Ben Franklin,scientist, inventor, statesman, writer, printer, businessman, and philosopher, was born into the family of a Boston candle maker.  He helped found a new nation, and defined the American character.

Daytime adult programs will include lectures, music, films, and activities that explore the early American period.  The Kids’ Chautauqua will feature activities, such as storytelling and inspirational lessons drawn from the lives of early Americans, dance lessons, and arts and crafts from that historic time. As we have for the past four years, we will also showcase Young Chautauqua participants.

In 2008, HPC will move into the 1800s, introducing participants to historic figures representing westward expansion, immigrant waves, and the Industrial Revolution. In 2009, HPC will focus on the 20th century.  As we move through the centuries, audiences can consider whether the American identity has evolved or to what degree it has remained constant. 

We anticipate finding paradoxes among traits traditionally cited as American.  For example, we champion equality, and yet rights have been withheld from certain groups; we claim to be individualistic, yet we are often conformist and great joiners of groups; we are idealistic and yet materialistic; we are religious, but we also defend freedom to believe (or not to believe) as one chooses.  Rather than serving up pat answers to "What is the American identity?" we hope to stimulate reflection and discussion.

All programs are FREE.  For more information go to www.highplainschautauqua.org .

JA 1/19/07 update