Alexander Hamilton (1755/7-1804)
By Hal Bidlack
Sponsored by High Plains Library District
Alexander Hamilton was a man who thought broadly. He believed our nation would be best served by men who were “continental in their thinking.” He meant this in the fullest possible meaning: geographically, politically, economically, culturally, and legally.
Hamilton was a soldier, a political philosopher, a propagandist, a financier, and a founder. By the time of his death at the age of 47, Hamilton had become the chief architect of the American economic system, the midwife to its legal system, and the enemy or friend of the most powerful men in the nation.
As a Founding Father, Hamilton was one of the most important, perhaps second only to General Washington. Until recently, to most Americans, Hamilton remains a vaguely disquieting figure, known more for how he died (mortally wounded in a duel) than for what he did in life. The echoes of Weehawken N.J., the bluff where his life ended in his “interview” with Aaron Burr, have profoundly shaped Hamilton’s modern legacy. Hero or melancholic, suicide or principled man, Hamilton’s duel with Burr had an immediate and cataclysmic impact on both men’s political and personal futures. Hamilton’s was extinguished by a lead mini-ball, Burr’s by the reverberations of shooting down a great, if flawed, man.
Alexander Hamilton served his country in three major ways. First, he served with the quill. As the principal author of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton was critical to helping Americans of both his era and ours understand the ideas, views, and beliefs of the Founding Fathers, as set forth in the United States Constitution. The Papers were both propaganda and philosophy.
Secondly, Hamilton served his country in public office. Most critically, he was the first Secretary of the Treasury. In that position, he worked tirelessly to put our nation on a firm financial foundation. His understanding that a well-managed debt is an important tool in fueling economic prosperity, as well as his support of a national bank, and his profound influence with President Washington all support the claim that he was the most important Secretary of the Treasury ever.
Finally, he served his country bravely and well in war. Near the beginning of the Revolutionary War, in August of 1775, Hamilton first saw fire rescuing twenty-one 9-pound cannon from the Battery in New York under fire from HMS Asia. He served as General Washington's closest aide from March of 1777 to April of 1781 and ended his revolutionary service by leading a critical attack at Yorktown on October 14, 1781.
Yet Hamilton can also be seen as the new American: a man who rose through society propelled only by his intelligence and energy and who became far more than seemed likely at his birth. He was hated by enemies and loved by his family and friends. Hamilton’s legacy, therefore, may be that he was the herald, the prototype of the New American: strong of will, confident of purpose, with the encumbrances of human frailties. History does a disservice when he is remembered merely for how he died. It was his life that was far more interesting, and far more important. Hamilton resonates through the ages.
A Selection of Hamilton Quotes
On Aaron Burr:
[He is] “For or against nothing, but as it suits his interests or ambition. I feel the religious duty to oppose his career.” “If we have an embryo-Caesar in the United States, ’tis Burr”
On his “awkward” birth:
James his father was fourth son of a Scottish Lord. Thus, he had “better pretensions fore most of those who in this country plume themselves on ancestry”
On the Congress:
“3/4 of the members of Congress were mortal enemies to talent and that 3/4 of the remainder were contemptuous of integrity.”
On why the Bill of Rights is unnecessary and perhaps dangerous:
Written in Federalist 84, “the Constitution itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, is a bill of rights.”
Hamilton at age 12: The first existent written communications from Hamilton to his friend Ned. From the squalor of his impoverished Caribbean home, Hamilton was already looking for a way to leave behind the anonymous misery he felt his life to be.
“I would willingly risk my life though not my character to excel my station… I wish there was a war.”
Hamilton on Jefferson:
On his farming troubles at Grange: [I am] “as little fitted to be a farmer as Jefferson to guide the helm of the United States”
Sponsored by High Plains Library District
Alexander Hamilton was a man who thought broadly. He believed our nation would be best served by men who were “continental in their thinking.” He meant this in the fullest possible meaning: geographically, politically, economically, culturally, and legally.
Hamilton was a soldier, a political philosopher, a propagandist, a financier, and a founder. By the time of his death at the age of 47, Hamilton had become the chief architect of the American economic system, the midwife to its legal system, and the enemy or friend of the most powerful men in the nation.
As a Founding Father, Hamilton was one of the most important, perhaps second only to General Washington. Until recently, to most Americans, Hamilton remains a vaguely disquieting figure, known more for how he died (mortally wounded in a duel) than for what he did in life. The echoes of Weehawken N.J., the bluff where his life ended in his “interview” with Aaron Burr, have profoundly shaped Hamilton’s modern legacy. Hero or melancholic, suicide or principled man, Hamilton’s duel with Burr had an immediate and cataclysmic impact on both men’s political and personal futures. Hamilton’s was extinguished by a lead mini-ball, Burr’s by the reverberations of shooting down a great, if flawed, man.
Alexander Hamilton served his country in three major ways. First, he served with the quill. As the principal author of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton was critical to helping Americans of both his era and ours understand the ideas, views, and beliefs of the Founding Fathers, as set forth in the United States Constitution. The Papers were both propaganda and philosophy.
Secondly, Hamilton served his country in public office. Most critically, he was the first Secretary of the Treasury. In that position, he worked tirelessly to put our nation on a firm financial foundation. His understanding that a well-managed debt is an important tool in fueling economic prosperity, as well as his support of a national bank, and his profound influence with President Washington all support the claim that he was the most important Secretary of the Treasury ever.
Finally, he served his country bravely and well in war. Near the beginning of the Revolutionary War, in August of 1775, Hamilton first saw fire rescuing twenty-one 9-pound cannon from the Battery in New York under fire from HMS Asia. He served as General Washington's closest aide from March of 1777 to April of 1781 and ended his revolutionary service by leading a critical attack at Yorktown on October 14, 1781.
Yet Hamilton can also be seen as the new American: a man who rose through society propelled only by his intelligence and energy and who became far more than seemed likely at his birth. He was hated by enemies and loved by his family and friends. Hamilton’s legacy, therefore, may be that he was the herald, the prototype of the New American: strong of will, confident of purpose, with the encumbrances of human frailties. History does a disservice when he is remembered merely for how he died. It was his life that was far more interesting, and far more important. Hamilton resonates through the ages.
A Selection of Hamilton Quotes
On Aaron Burr:
[He is] “For or against nothing, but as it suits his interests or ambition. I feel the religious duty to oppose his career.” “If we have an embryo-Caesar in the United States, ’tis Burr”
On his “awkward” birth:
James his father was fourth son of a Scottish Lord. Thus, he had “better pretensions fore most of those who in this country plume themselves on ancestry”
On the Congress:
“3/4 of the members of Congress were mortal enemies to talent and that 3/4 of the remainder were contemptuous of integrity.”
On why the Bill of Rights is unnecessary and perhaps dangerous:
Written in Federalist 84, “the Constitution itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, is a bill of rights.”
Hamilton at age 12: The first existent written communications from Hamilton to his friend Ned. From the squalor of his impoverished Caribbean home, Hamilton was already looking for a way to leave behind the anonymous misery he felt his life to be.
“I would willingly risk my life though not my character to excel my station… I wish there was a war.”
Hamilton on Jefferson:
On his farming troubles at Grange: [I am] “as little fitted to be a farmer as Jefferson to guide the helm of the United States”
Alexander Hamilton Timeline
|
Jan. 1, 1755 or 1757
Feb. 19, 1768 1771 Summer 1773 Autumn 1773 Dec. 25, 1776 1777-78 Dec. 14, 1780 Oct. 14, 1781 Feb. 24, 1784 Feb 10, 1785 Sep. 14, 1786 Sep 11, 1789 Sep. 30, 1794 Jan. 31. 1795 May 15-Aug. 25, 1796 July 25, 1798 Feb. 17, 1801 Nov. 16, 1801 Nov. 23, 1801 July 11, 1804 July 12, 1804 July 14, 1804 |
Alexander born Nevis, British West Indies, son of Rachel Faucitt Lavien and James Hamilton
Death of Rachel Faucette Lavien at St. Croix, Virgin Islands Reverend Hugh Knox (College of NJ graduate) introduces AH to learning and to North America Sailed on Thunderbolt for Boston en route to New York Entered King’s College, now Columbia, as student with special status Fought at Trenton and Princeton Orders final artillery barrage on Nassau Hall, the only building of College of New Jersey Valley Forge Met Schuyler family. Liked all sisters, fell in love with Elizabeth (Eliza, Betsey) Married Elizabeth, daughter of General Philip Schuyler, both age 23 Yorktown, Va. Commanded and personally led the assault and capture of Redoubt No. 10 Founded and became a director of Bank of New York Founding of the New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves As NY delegate to Annapolis Convention, drafted resolution calling for new convention to enlarge powers of federal government Appointed first Secretary of Treasury, age 32 Takes to field to suppress the Whisky Rebellion Resignation as Secretary of Treasury Prepared drafts of Washington’s Farewell Address, delivered Sep. 19 Appointed Army Major General and Inspector-General Responsible for Jefferson’s election as President over Burr by a majority of the states in the H of R on the 36th roll call Founded New York Evening Post Philip, Hamilton’s oldest son, killed by George Eacker, for attack on AH supporting Burr Mortally wounded by Burr at Weehawken, NJ Died in home of William Bayard, NYC Buried with full military honors in Trinity Churchyard NYC |
Abigail Adams (1744-1818)
By Jessica Downing-Ford
Sponsored by Roche Constructors, Inc.
Born into an epicenter of learning at her father’s parsonage, young Abigail Adams was often sick and relegated to her bed where that she became a voracious reader and an avid letter writer. Her mother, a member of the prominent Quincy family, devoted her efforts in service to the members of her husband’s parish. Grandmother Quincy nurtured Abigail's headstrong spirit, often saying of her (quoting Plutarch), “Wild colts make the best horses.” Abigail’s upbringing formed a deep sense of service, a passion for education, and strong opinions, qualities that endeared her to the young lawyer, John Adams.
John and Abigail based their marriage on mutual respect. She was his rudder, who lovingly mitigated his temper, and he was her source of information and stimulation. Early in their marriage John wrote, “But you, who have always softened and warmed my heart, shall restore my benevolence, as well as my health and tranquility of mind, you shall polish and refine my sentiments of life and manners, banish all the unsocial and ill-natured articles in my composition and form me to a happy temper.”
When John was serving in the Continental Congress prior to and during the Revolutionary War, Abigail managed the farm, educated their four young children, and cared for John’s aging mother. She churned her own butter, made quill ink, and formed sewing circles to eliminate their need for British goods. Abigail rearranged her home to accommodate refugees from Boston. She nursed and lost members of her family to dysentery and smallpox outbreaks. She endured all of these challenges while living in a war zone. Even through the lens of our own pandemic experience, her circumstances appear extraordinary. Yet Abigail persisted. She took comfort in her nightly ritual of composing her thoughts and writing to her Dearest Friend about the events of the day. Though she regularly admonished John to burn her letters, embarrassed by her poor spelling and punctuation due to the lack of formal schooling, he used some of them to illustrate the hardships endured in Boston to the other members of Congress.
During John’s six-year absence abroad, working to secure support for America’s independence, Abigail suffered. She missed her husband. His letters were scant, rumors circulated and Abigail was plagued by uncertainty. When the war ended, John asked her to join him in Europe, an intimidating endeavor for a woman who had never traveled outside of Massachusetts. Appreciating the unprecedented learning opportunity, Abigail chose to take their 18-year-old daughter, Nabby, as her travel companion. As a female, Nabby would be the only member of the Adams’ family denied a Harvard education. In Europe, Abigail enjoyed theater for the first time, attended scientific lectures, and fraternized with fine , yet she found the pomp and circumstance of the monarchy extravagantly wasteful. The disparity she witnessed between the classes troubled her deeply. Abigail was grateful to return to America where she believed “merit, not title, gave a man preeminence.”
Shortly after their return, Abigail became our country’s first Second Lady when John was elected Vice President. Abigail admired both George and Martha Washington’s elegant manners and unassuming natures. She endeavored to emulate Martha’s unflappable grace and style when she became First Lady. But Abigail was a new kind of First Lady, one with opinions and areas of interest. She felt everyone, including Blacks and women had a right to education. Her detractors nicknamed her “Mrs. President” for her influence over John. Although she was the first woman of this title to experience a backlash from men who were threatened by her confidence and intellect, she has not been an exception. Powerful women know all too well the prejudice and vitriol Abigail endured. She grew disheartened by the growing political chasm and the nastiness of the 1800 election. Abigail had sacrificed a large portion of her personal happiness for the future of her country, as more than half of their first 20 years of marriage was spent apart. Nevertheless, through the thousands of letters she wrote, a great deal of the history of our country’s founding has been preserved.
Sponsored by Roche Constructors, Inc.
Born into an epicenter of learning at her father’s parsonage, young Abigail Adams was often sick and relegated to her bed where that she became a voracious reader and an avid letter writer. Her mother, a member of the prominent Quincy family, devoted her efforts in service to the members of her husband’s parish. Grandmother Quincy nurtured Abigail's headstrong spirit, often saying of her (quoting Plutarch), “Wild colts make the best horses.” Abigail’s upbringing formed a deep sense of service, a passion for education, and strong opinions, qualities that endeared her to the young lawyer, John Adams.
John and Abigail based their marriage on mutual respect. She was his rudder, who lovingly mitigated his temper, and he was her source of information and stimulation. Early in their marriage John wrote, “But you, who have always softened and warmed my heart, shall restore my benevolence, as well as my health and tranquility of mind, you shall polish and refine my sentiments of life and manners, banish all the unsocial and ill-natured articles in my composition and form me to a happy temper.”
When John was serving in the Continental Congress prior to and during the Revolutionary War, Abigail managed the farm, educated their four young children, and cared for John’s aging mother. She churned her own butter, made quill ink, and formed sewing circles to eliminate their need for British goods. Abigail rearranged her home to accommodate refugees from Boston. She nursed and lost members of her family to dysentery and smallpox outbreaks. She endured all of these challenges while living in a war zone. Even through the lens of our own pandemic experience, her circumstances appear extraordinary. Yet Abigail persisted. She took comfort in her nightly ritual of composing her thoughts and writing to her Dearest Friend about the events of the day. Though she regularly admonished John to burn her letters, embarrassed by her poor spelling and punctuation due to the lack of formal schooling, he used some of them to illustrate the hardships endured in Boston to the other members of Congress.
During John’s six-year absence abroad, working to secure support for America’s independence, Abigail suffered. She missed her husband. His letters were scant, rumors circulated and Abigail was plagued by uncertainty. When the war ended, John asked her to join him in Europe, an intimidating endeavor for a woman who had never traveled outside of Massachusetts. Appreciating the unprecedented learning opportunity, Abigail chose to take their 18-year-old daughter, Nabby, as her travel companion. As a female, Nabby would be the only member of the Adams’ family denied a Harvard education. In Europe, Abigail enjoyed theater for the first time, attended scientific lectures, and fraternized with fine , yet she found the pomp and circumstance of the monarchy extravagantly wasteful. The disparity she witnessed between the classes troubled her deeply. Abigail was grateful to return to America where she believed “merit, not title, gave a man preeminence.”
Shortly after their return, Abigail became our country’s first Second Lady when John was elected Vice President. Abigail admired both George and Martha Washington’s elegant manners and unassuming natures. She endeavored to emulate Martha’s unflappable grace and style when she became First Lady. But Abigail was a new kind of First Lady, one with opinions and areas of interest. She felt everyone, including Blacks and women had a right to education. Her detractors nicknamed her “Mrs. President” for her influence over John. Although she was the first woman of this title to experience a backlash from men who were threatened by her confidence and intellect, she has not been an exception. Powerful women know all too well the prejudice and vitriol Abigail endured. She grew disheartened by the growing political chasm and the nastiness of the 1800 election. Abigail had sacrificed a large portion of her personal happiness for the future of her country, as more than half of their first 20 years of marriage was spent apart. Nevertheless, through the thousands of letters she wrote, a great deal of the history of our country’s founding has been preserved.
Abigail Adams Quotes
“It is really mortifying, when a woman possessed of a common share of understanding considers the difference of education between the male and female sex, even in those families where education is attended to . . . [W]hy should the male sex wish for such a disparity in those whom they one day intend for companions and associates[?] Pardon me if I cannot help sometimes suspecting that this neglect arises in some measure from an ungenerous jealousy of rivals near the throne.”
“These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by the scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”
“Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.”
“I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in this province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me -- to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”
“If I were to count my years by the revolutions I have witnessed, I might number them with the Antediluvians. So rapid have been the changes: that the mind, tho fleet in its progress, has been outstripped by them, and we are left like statues gazing at what we can neither fathom, or comprehend.”
“It is really mortifying, when a woman possessed of a common share of understanding considers the difference of education between the male and female sex, even in those families where education is attended to . . . [W]hy should the male sex wish for such a disparity in those whom they one day intend for companions and associates[?] Pardon me if I cannot help sometimes suspecting that this neglect arises in some measure from an ungenerous jealousy of rivals near the throne.”
“These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by the scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”
“Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.”
“I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in this province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me -- to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”
“If I were to count my years by the revolutions I have witnessed, I might number them with the Antediluvians. So rapid have been the changes: that the mind, tho fleet in its progress, has been outstripped by them, and we are left like statues gazing at what we can neither fathom, or comprehend.”
Abigail Adams Timeline
October 1764 Abigail marries John Adams
1765 to 1777 Abigail and John have six children, four survive to adulthood
March 5, 1770 The Boston Massacre thrusts John into the public eye as the British soldiers’ defense
attorney
August 1774 John leaves to attend the first Continental Congress
June 17, 1775 The Battle of Bunker Abigail writes “The day, perhaps the decisive day” letter that John reads to the
Continental Congress
February 1778 John and John Quincy, their 10-year-old son, depart for Europe
June 1784 Abigail and “Nabby,” their 18-year-old daughter, depart for Europe
November 1788 John elected as Vice President
November 1796 John elected President
March 1801 Abigail and John return to private life at their home in Quincy, MA
1765 to 1777 Abigail and John have six children, four survive to adulthood
March 5, 1770 The Boston Massacre thrusts John into the public eye as the British soldiers’ defense
attorney
August 1774 John leaves to attend the first Continental Congress
June 17, 1775 The Battle of Bunker Abigail writes “The day, perhaps the decisive day” letter that John reads to the
Continental Congress
February 1778 John and John Quincy, their 10-year-old son, depart for Europe
June 1784 Abigail and “Nabby,” their 18-year-old daughter, depart for Europe
November 1788 John elected as Vice President
November 1796 John elected President
March 1801 Abigail and John return to private life at their home in Quincy, MA
Chautauquan Scholar Spotlight - Jessica Downing-Ford
Jessica Downing-Ford was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, not far from John and Abigail’s “old farm.” She earned a BFA in Performing Arts from Emerson College and dance was her first love.
Jessica has enjoyed bringing Abigail into classrooms from elementary through college level since
2018. She is honored to work with students as a Colorado Humanities Young Chautauqua coach. Jessica is a founding member of the Grand Valley History Players and a board member of the History Alive, Colorado West Chautauqua. Jessica is currently researching other characters.
Jessica Downing-Ford was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, not far from John and Abigail’s “old farm.” She earned a BFA in Performing Arts from Emerson College and dance was her first love.
Jessica has enjoyed bringing Abigail into classrooms from elementary through college level since
2018. She is honored to work with students as a Colorado Humanities Young Chautauqua coach. Jessica is a founding member of the Grand Valley History Players and a board member of the History Alive, Colorado West Chautauqua. Jessica is currently researching other characters.
Legendary Ladies
Sponsored by Richard & Mary Kemme Foundation
With Announcer, Linda Ross
KATHARINE LEE BATES (1859-1929)
By Kyle Neidt
Known primarily as the composer of the lyrics to the song, “America, the Beautiful,” Katherine Lee Bates was an accomplished writer before she wrote her famous poem. Her mother presented her with a diary when she was nine and Katharine kept diaries for the rest of her life. Due to her father's early death, the family struggled financially as Katharine grew up, but her mother instilled in her a passion for literary works, adventure, and caring for the less fortunate. She entered Wellesley College at 17, beginning her life-long affiliation with the school.
Katharine began publishing poems and other writings while still a student at Wellesley. She quickly drew the attention of editors from a variety of magazines. Published in 1889, her first novel, Rose and Thorn, was aimed at young readers and focused on the insensitivity of wealthier citizens towards the poor. This became one of many themes in her future poems and stories.
The summer of 1893, Katharine took a life-changing trip to Colorado Springs to teach at the summer session held at Colorado College. While there, this Easterner read about the country's escalating financial crisis from a western point of view in local newspapers. Influenced by the sights and woes of her beloved country, Katharine wrote the poem, “America,” extoling its beauty and praying for redemption from its faults.
For the remainder of her life, Katharine used her pen and her position at Wellesley to draw attention to less familiar writers and to champion several causes. Increasingly recognized for her poetic artistry and breadth of literary knowledge, Macmillan Press tapped her to write a book on American literature. Her book included not only works by well-known male writers but also lesser-known ones — at the time — such as Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau. And, unlike many men compiling American literature anthologies, she filled her pages with works by women — again, better-known ones such as Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stowe as well as the lesser known, such as Catherine Sedgwick and Lydia Maria Child.
Katharine's own work reflected themes of social justice, including income inequality, unfair labor practices, women’s rights, and fairness for Native Americans and immigrants. She valued a spirit of community both within America and with fellow citizens of the world and came to despair of America’s increasing imperialism. An ardent pacifist, she created a male alter-ego, James “Jay” Lincoln, under whose name she published many anti-war poems. Yet ever the patriot, Katharine supported President Wilson’s decision to enter WWI and his post-war efforts to secure worldwide peace.
She devoted her later years to her writing, particularly, Yellow Clover, her ode to companion Katharine Coman, and mentoring younger poets, including aspiring student poets at Wellesley and published ones such as Robert Frost. Of her poem-turned-song, "America, the Beautiful," Katharine stated it was her gift to America. In her final public speech, she urged the audience, and by extension, all Americans, to view themselves as global citizens, connected to everyone "from sea to shining sea."
Chautauqua Scholar Bio – KYLE NEIDT
With Announcer, Linda Ross
KATHARINE LEE BATES (1859-1929)
By Kyle Neidt
Known primarily as the composer of the lyrics to the song, “America, the Beautiful,” Katherine Lee Bates was an accomplished writer before she wrote her famous poem. Her mother presented her with a diary when she was nine and Katharine kept diaries for the rest of her life. Due to her father's early death, the family struggled financially as Katharine grew up, but her mother instilled in her a passion for literary works, adventure, and caring for the less fortunate. She entered Wellesley College at 17, beginning her life-long affiliation with the school.
Katharine began publishing poems and other writings while still a student at Wellesley. She quickly drew the attention of editors from a variety of magazines. Published in 1889, her first novel, Rose and Thorn, was aimed at young readers and focused on the insensitivity of wealthier citizens towards the poor. This became one of many themes in her future poems and stories.
The summer of 1893, Katharine took a life-changing trip to Colorado Springs to teach at the summer session held at Colorado College. While there, this Easterner read about the country's escalating financial crisis from a western point of view in local newspapers. Influenced by the sights and woes of her beloved country, Katharine wrote the poem, “America,” extoling its beauty and praying for redemption from its faults.
For the remainder of her life, Katharine used her pen and her position at Wellesley to draw attention to less familiar writers and to champion several causes. Increasingly recognized for her poetic artistry and breadth of literary knowledge, Macmillan Press tapped her to write a book on American literature. Her book included not only works by well-known male writers but also lesser-known ones — at the time — such as Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau. And, unlike many men compiling American literature anthologies, she filled her pages with works by women — again, better-known ones such as Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stowe as well as the lesser known, such as Catherine Sedgwick and Lydia Maria Child.
Katharine's own work reflected themes of social justice, including income inequality, unfair labor practices, women’s rights, and fairness for Native Americans and immigrants. She valued a spirit of community both within America and with fellow citizens of the world and came to despair of America’s increasing imperialism. An ardent pacifist, she created a male alter-ego, James “Jay” Lincoln, under whose name she published many anti-war poems. Yet ever the patriot, Katharine supported President Wilson’s decision to enter WWI and his post-war efforts to secure worldwide peace.
She devoted her later years to her writing, particularly, Yellow Clover, her ode to companion Katharine Coman, and mentoring younger poets, including aspiring student poets at Wellesley and published ones such as Robert Frost. Of her poem-turned-song, "America, the Beautiful," Katharine stated it was her gift to America. In her final public speech, she urged the audience, and by extension, all Americans, to view themselves as global citizens, connected to everyone "from sea to shining sea."
Chautauqua Scholar Bio – KYLE NEIDT
A Legendary Lady since 1997, Kyle has also performed in community and children’s theater productions. However, she finds the creative process involved in researching and performing real women especially rewarding. In addition, she enjoys directing and helps fellow members bring their characters to life on the stage. A proud Jayhawk, Kyle earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Kansas. She taught French and English at secondary schools in Kansas and Germany before switching to higher education, teaching at several community colleges, and then becoming an academic advisor at CU-Boulder in the Theatre and Dance Department. Kyle was recently featured on Rocky Mountain PBS in a Colorado Women's Hall of Fame documentary about one of her characters, Mary Coyle Chase.
Elaine Goodale Eastman (1863-1953)
by Gretchen Payne
A child prodigy of sorts, Elaine Goodale spent an idyllic childhood on a farm in Massachusetts homeschooled by her mother. She and her younger sister, Dora, wrote poetry printed in the Atlantic Monthly and published a book, Apple Blossoms: The Verses of Two Children, when she was 15. This book received praise from esteemed authors, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Helen Hunt Jackson among others.
In 1868 a friend of Elaine’s father, General Samuel Armstrong, established a boarding school for Native American children at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. At her parent’s urging, twenty-year-old Elaine began a teaching career there. After two years, wanting to know more about her Lakota students’ culture, she accompanied the newly formed Indian Rights Association (IRA) on a tour of the Sioux Agencies in the Dakota Territories in 1885. She soon determined that day schools on the reservations would be a much better alternative for educating the indigenous children. She agreed that Indians would have to assimilate in order to survive but not to the point of annihilating their culture. Learning the Lakota language enabled her to serve as a translator for the Sioux in their dealings with the government. A dedicated journalist, she documented her experiences in articles which appeared in newspapers and magazines back east.
Elaine returned to Massachusetts in the fall of 1889 and gave talks sponsored by the IRA defending day schools and proposing the idea that education was key to protecting the Indians from further exploitation and broken treaties. She fought for better schools, higher pay for teachers, and upgraded supplies. Indian Commissioner, Thomas J. Morgan, appointed her Supervisor of Education in the two Dakotas in the spring of 1890. She traveled around the territory evaluating schools, many taught by former soldiers unfit for the job, and held teacher training institutes during the summer.
Along her travels she learned of and became a witness to the Ghost Dance, which was becoming prevalent among the Sioux factions who wanted to distance themselves from the white man’s domination. Hostilities grew and culminated in the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Elaine was living on the Pine Ridge Reservation during this time and was on hand to lend care, tend to the wounded, and prepare food and coffee for the survivors. The doctor on site was Charles (Ohiyesa) Eastman, a Santee Sioux educated at Dartmouth College and Boston University, to whom Elaine had recently become engaged.
Elaine and Charles were married in the spring of 1891 and settled back east. Charles embarked on a career of lecturing across the country about the plight of the Indians; she stayed home to raise their six children and write his speeches. After his death Elaine continued as a poet and author, honoring her commitment of lifelong service to the Sioux.
by Gretchen Payne
A child prodigy of sorts, Elaine Goodale spent an idyllic childhood on a farm in Massachusetts homeschooled by her mother. She and her younger sister, Dora, wrote poetry printed in the Atlantic Monthly and published a book, Apple Blossoms: The Verses of Two Children, when she was 15. This book received praise from esteemed authors, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Helen Hunt Jackson among others.
In 1868 a friend of Elaine’s father, General Samuel Armstrong, established a boarding school for Native American children at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. At her parent’s urging, twenty-year-old Elaine began a teaching career there. After two years, wanting to know more about her Lakota students’ culture, she accompanied the newly formed Indian Rights Association (IRA) on a tour of the Sioux Agencies in the Dakota Territories in 1885. She soon determined that day schools on the reservations would be a much better alternative for educating the indigenous children. She agreed that Indians would have to assimilate in order to survive but not to the point of annihilating their culture. Learning the Lakota language enabled her to serve as a translator for the Sioux in their dealings with the government. A dedicated journalist, she documented her experiences in articles which appeared in newspapers and magazines back east.
Elaine returned to Massachusetts in the fall of 1889 and gave talks sponsored by the IRA defending day schools and proposing the idea that education was key to protecting the Indians from further exploitation and broken treaties. She fought for better schools, higher pay for teachers, and upgraded supplies. Indian Commissioner, Thomas J. Morgan, appointed her Supervisor of Education in the two Dakotas in the spring of 1890. She traveled around the territory evaluating schools, many taught by former soldiers unfit for the job, and held teacher training institutes during the summer.
Along her travels she learned of and became a witness to the Ghost Dance, which was becoming prevalent among the Sioux factions who wanted to distance themselves from the white man’s domination. Hostilities grew and culminated in the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Elaine was living on the Pine Ridge Reservation during this time and was on hand to lend care, tend to the wounded, and prepare food and coffee for the survivors. The doctor on site was Charles (Ohiyesa) Eastman, a Santee Sioux educated at Dartmouth College and Boston University, to whom Elaine had recently become engaged.
Elaine and Charles were married in the spring of 1891 and settled back east. Charles embarked on a career of lecturing across the country about the plight of the Indians; she stayed home to raise their six children and write his speeches. After his death Elaine continued as a poet and author, honoring her commitment of lifelong service to the Sioux.
Chautauqua Scholar Bio – Gretchen Payne
Gretchen Payne is a retired high school English, speech, and drama teacher whose love of reading, history, and performance led her to join the Legendary Ladies. Coaching students in writing and oral interpretation has been an unexpected asset in this choice of post-career avocation. Her characters include Helen Hunt Jackson, Lady Catherine Moon, Rae Wilson, and Elaine Goodale Eastman. Since most history has been written by and about men, it is exciting to research and discover the strong, passionate, and influential women who helped frame our western culture.
Gretchen Payne is a retired high school English, speech, and drama teacher whose love of reading, history, and performance led her to join the Legendary Ladies. Coaching students in writing and oral interpretation has been an unexpected asset in this choice of post-career avocation. Her characters include Helen Hunt Jackson, Lady Catherine Moon, Rae Wilson, and Elaine Goodale Eastman. Since most history has been written by and about men, it is exciting to research and discover the strong, passionate, and influential women who helped frame our western culture.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850 – 1917) - Sue Ann Shenk
Frances Cabrini was born July 15, 1850 in Sant Angelo, Italy. At a young age, she was enthralled by stories of missionaries and made up her mind to join a religious order. But the 2 orders she approached would not accept her. Undeterred, in 1880, Frances Cabrini founded her own order with 5 other women, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Her desire was to be a missionary in China so she made an appointment with Pope Leo XIII but he told her to go west to America and help the Italian immigrants who were in desperate need of help, not east to China. Italian Immigrants fled Europe because of the ravages of famine. They were also seeking religious and political freedom and to escape persecution for their beliefs. But, they lacked education, faced considerable hostility, and were restricted to manual labor and low paying jobs.
The Italian government encouraged immigration to relieve pressure after the Civil War which resulted in over a half million killed or wounded. Italians were recruited from Italy to fill labor shortages caused by the war. Frances Xavier Cabrini stepped into the new world with her five companions to establish hospitals, orphanages and schools despite tremendous odds.
Soon requests came for her to open orphanages and schools all over the world. She made 25 transatlantic crossings and established 67 hospitals, schools and orphanages.
Not long after Mother Cabrini established the Queen of Heaven Orphanage in Denver, Colorado, in 1906, she purchased a tract of mountain land in Mount Vernon Canyon, about 20 miles west of Denver, as a summer camp for the girls. Professionals were hired to look for water, which was scarce. None was found until Mother Cabrini’s last visit in 1912. During a walk with the Sisters, she pointed to a red rock and indicated they would find water there. In that dry spot, a spring trickled forth, which has never stopped. An outdoor shrine in her honor still remains there today.
Her activity was relentless until her death on December 22, 1917 in Chicago. She was beatified in 1938 by Pope Pius XI. In 1940, Mother Cabrini was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII in recognition of her holiness and service to mankind and was named Patroness of Immigrants in 1950. Four miracles are accredited to her.
Today, activities of the Cabrinian world are carried on side by side with lay collaborators. Volunteers work as teachers, nurses, social workers, administrators and members of institutional boards of trustees. They can be found on six continents and 17 countries throughout the world, helping wherever there is a need: the poor, the disenfranchised and the marginalized.
Frances Cabrini was born July 15, 1850 in Sant Angelo, Italy. At a young age, she was enthralled by stories of missionaries and made up her mind to join a religious order. But the 2 orders she approached would not accept her. Undeterred, in 1880, Frances Cabrini founded her own order with 5 other women, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Her desire was to be a missionary in China so she made an appointment with Pope Leo XIII but he told her to go west to America and help the Italian immigrants who were in desperate need of help, not east to China. Italian Immigrants fled Europe because of the ravages of famine. They were also seeking religious and political freedom and to escape persecution for their beliefs. But, they lacked education, faced considerable hostility, and were restricted to manual labor and low paying jobs.
The Italian government encouraged immigration to relieve pressure after the Civil War which resulted in over a half million killed or wounded. Italians were recruited from Italy to fill labor shortages caused by the war. Frances Xavier Cabrini stepped into the new world with her five companions to establish hospitals, orphanages and schools despite tremendous odds.
Soon requests came for her to open orphanages and schools all over the world. She made 25 transatlantic crossings and established 67 hospitals, schools and orphanages.
Not long after Mother Cabrini established the Queen of Heaven Orphanage in Denver, Colorado, in 1906, she purchased a tract of mountain land in Mount Vernon Canyon, about 20 miles west of Denver, as a summer camp for the girls. Professionals were hired to look for water, which was scarce. None was found until Mother Cabrini’s last visit in 1912. During a walk with the Sisters, she pointed to a red rock and indicated they would find water there. In that dry spot, a spring trickled forth, which has never stopped. An outdoor shrine in her honor still remains there today.
Her activity was relentless until her death on December 22, 1917 in Chicago. She was beatified in 1938 by Pope Pius XI. In 1940, Mother Cabrini was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII in recognition of her holiness and service to mankind and was named Patroness of Immigrants in 1950. Four miracles are accredited to her.
Today, activities of the Cabrinian world are carried on side by side with lay collaborators. Volunteers work as teachers, nurses, social workers, administrators and members of institutional boards of trustees. They can be found on six continents and 17 countries throughout the world, helping wherever there is a need: the poor, the disenfranchised and the marginalized.
Chautauqua Scholar Spotlight – Sue Ann Shenk
Sue Ann Shenk has always been passionate about storytelling. Her experience in Toastmasters earned her Competent Communicator, Competent Leader and Advanced Bronze speaker awards. Being with The Legendary Ladies, a historical performance organization, has allowed her to portray women in history and bring their stories to life. Her characters include: Captain Jack, Lady Miner, Julia Holmes (first known woman to climb Pikes Peak), Calamity Jane (Frontierswoman), Baby Doe Tabor (Rags to Riches to repentant Silver Queen), and Mother Cabrini, Patron Saint of Immigrants. Sue has been performing with the Legendary Ladies the past nine years at museums, libraries, schools, historical societies and conventions throughout Colorado. Never considering herself retired, she runs her own business as an artist.
Sue Ann Shenk has always been passionate about storytelling. Her experience in Toastmasters earned her Competent Communicator, Competent Leader and Advanced Bronze speaker awards. Being with The Legendary Ladies, a historical performance organization, has allowed her to portray women in history and bring their stories to life. Her characters include: Captain Jack, Lady Miner, Julia Holmes (first known woman to climb Pikes Peak), Calamity Jane (Frontierswoman), Baby Doe Tabor (Rags to Riches to repentant Silver Queen), and Mother Cabrini, Patron Saint of Immigrants. Sue has been performing with the Legendary Ladies the past nine years at museums, libraries, schools, historical societies and conventions throughout Colorado. Never considering herself retired, she runs her own business as an artist.
Woody Guthrie: Working-Class Hero (1912-1967)
by David Fenimore
Sponsored by The Weld Trust
You could be forgiven for assuming that Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was a poor Okie farmer who fled the Dust Bowl to pick peaches in California. Like innumerable celebrities whose image merges with their real selves, “Woody Guthrie” was mostly a manufactured persona, the creation of a well-read, musically inclined Oklahoman who never once worked as a farmer, miner, or fruitpicker, and spent most of his adult life in New York City.
He hosted radio programs, sang at union rallies, and banged out songs and left-wing newspaper columns all night long on his typewriter. He was more poet than musician, but something about his voice and lyrics – not to mention that sly, drawling, aw-shucks stage manner – appealed to migrant worker, labor organizer, and university-educated folklorist alike. “A good song is a triumph of oversimplification,” his friend Pete Seeger once said, and Woody had the knack of rolling up all the injustices of Depression-era class struggle into a catchy refrain set to an easy tune you almost already knew.
Seeger told Guthrie biographer Joe Klein something worth remembering every time someone singing “This Land is Your Land” leaves out its anti-capitalist verses: “Woody was a communist.” Despite writing patriotic songs like “Roll On, Columbia” and almost going down with his Merchant Marine ship during WWII, Woody was no flag waver. He wrote “This Land” to reject Irving Berlin’s 1940 hit “God Bless America,” believing that the system was rigged against wage-earners. Like many rural Americans today, he distrusted the federal government and despised bankers, lawyers, corporations, socialites and other elites. He demanded equal treatment for Black performers. He walked away from well-paying gigs to play for beer at the corner bar. And he gave away almost all the money he ever made, which wasn’t much. His work wasn’t widely known until after he was stricken with the hereditary disease that killed him at age 55, after progressively crippling him in body and mind for his last 20 years.
If anything, he’s now more famous than ever. He gave us hundreds of songs, including over a dozen classics like “Pastures of Plenty,” “Hard Traveling,” “Do-Re-Mi,” and “Deportee.” Woody injected the American folksong tradition into popular music, inspiring innumerable songwriters and performers from Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to Phil Ochs, Lila Downs, Billy Bragg, Bono, and practically anyone else who writes lyrics with pointed social and political commentary.
As with many celebrities, Woody’s private life doesn’t stand up well to close scrutiny. He refused to wear clean clothes or sit at the table to eat. He seldom bathed and was a disloyal husband to three wives and a mostly absent father to eight children, walking away from one family after another. He sponged off his friends, smoked and drank too much, and often insulted benefactors and audiences.
But were the songs worth it? Two of his three wives, his surviving children Nora and Arlo, and many of his closest associates have said that they were. But this time, you be the judge.
Woody Guthrie Quotations
"I sang at hundreds of union meetings and met every color and kind of human being you can imagine."
“I ain’t a communist, necessarily, though I have been in the red most of my life.”
“Some men rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.”
“I’d rather be in jail in California than back in Texas, in that dead sea of dust.”
“My wife didn’t like livin’ too close to the railroad tracks. When that old, long, and lonesome highball whistles on the breeze, there ain’t no tellin’ what an old reckless rambler like me will do.”
“Music is some kind of electricity that makes a radio out of a man, and he just sings the way he’s feelin’.”
“Anyone caught singing one of my songs without permission will be a mighty good friend of mine, ‘cause I don’t give a dern. I wrote them, and that’s all I wanted to do.”
“I’d rather write one song which is sung by a whole lot of people than a book which sits on a shelf most of the time.”
"I got disgusted with the sissified and nervous rules of censorship on all my songs and ballads, and so I drove off down the road again.”
“The most valuable thing I learned from Woody was his strong sense of right and wrong, his frankness in speaking out, and his close identification with all the hard-working men and women of the world.” (Pete Seeger)
“You’d see him at a distance, and think, oh no, here comes Woody. Then when he’d leave, after a while you’d kind of miss him.” (Pete Seeger)
Chautauqua Scholar Spotlight - David Fenimore
David Fenimore recently retired from 32 years teaching literature and the humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was named Fitzgerald Distinguished Professor of the Humanities and received the Outstanding Teacher Award and the Dean’s Award for Teaching. His other Chautauqua characters include western writer Zane Grey, New York publisher Horace Greeley, and California settler John A. Sutter. He has published numerous reviews and articles on western literature and folklore, as well as written and staged over a dozen plays. Once upon a time he hopped a freight from Oregon to California, and nowadays in his spare time he plays piano about as well as Woody played the guitar.
David Fenimore recently retired from 32 years teaching literature and the humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was named Fitzgerald Distinguished Professor of the Humanities and received the Outstanding Teacher Award and the Dean’s Award for Teaching. His other Chautauqua characters include western writer Zane Grey, New York publisher Horace Greeley, and California settler John A. Sutter. He has published numerous reviews and articles on western literature and folklore, as well as written and staged over a dozen plays. Once upon a time he hopped a freight from Oregon to California, and nowadays in his spare time he plays piano about as well as Woody played the guitar.
Wernher von Braun (1912- 1977)
By Larry Bounds
Sponsored anonymously
Wernher von Braun turned his childhood dream of exploring outer space into the 36-story, 6- million pound, spaceship - the Saturn V - that carried men to the moon and back to earth safely. In his lifetime he rubbed shoulders with presidents, dictators, and celebrities. He spoke passionately of space exploration as an honored physicist and engineer and as a devoted Christian. "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Psalms 19:1) would be his epitaph.
Yet this scientific celebrity with his global recognition, amazing successes, and inspiring personal story lived a life of controversies that trouble us even today. The man who got the Apollo XI to the moon also rained the V-2 down on the streets of London. The man who guided the team to achieve President Kennedy's dream to "put a man on the moon by the end of this decade" also guided a team to realize Adolf Hitler's dream to wreak vengeance on the British Isles.
How can we reconcile these two sides of von Braun's life? How can we ever reconcile the lives of any researchers who develop miraculous cures AND deadly, contagious, weaponized viruses? Engineers who build nuclear power plants to heat, cool, and light our homes AND nuclear bombs that can lay waste to entire cities in a single searing flash? Chemists who create compounds that form new materials for our safety and comfort AND toxic gasses that choke the last breaths from civilian women and children?
With the launching of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and President Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon before 1970, the nation mobilized behind a newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Von Braun now headed the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. His army of engineers and technicians stepped America through the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Their crowning achievement was the launch of the Saturn V rocket - the most powerful rocket ever created before or since. With the success of the Apollo program and the footsteps of a dozen astronauts on the surface of the moon, America seemed to lose interest in the potential of travel to other worlds.
Von Braun moved to Washington in 1970 and retired from NASA in 1972 to pursue private corporate development of satellites, shuttles, space stations, and bases for Mars. Diagnosed with cancer shortly after retirement he died at the age of 65 in 1977. Most of his dreams for human space travel are still incomplete 45 years later. So the life of von Braun offers us a starting point to gain a perspective on what is the role of conscience in pure and applied science. What price are citizens willing to pay to expand across new horizons to seek new discoveries and create a new future for us all? To create a new future for us all? What threats are we willing to abide? What rewards do we insist upon to justify the dangers inevitably created?
By Larry Bounds
Sponsored anonymously
Wernher von Braun turned his childhood dream of exploring outer space into the 36-story, 6- million pound, spaceship - the Saturn V - that carried men to the moon and back to earth safely. In his lifetime he rubbed shoulders with presidents, dictators, and celebrities. He spoke passionately of space exploration as an honored physicist and engineer and as a devoted Christian. "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Psalms 19:1) would be his epitaph.
Yet this scientific celebrity with his global recognition, amazing successes, and inspiring personal story lived a life of controversies that trouble us even today. The man who got the Apollo XI to the moon also rained the V-2 down on the streets of London. The man who guided the team to achieve President Kennedy's dream to "put a man on the moon by the end of this decade" also guided a team to realize Adolf Hitler's dream to wreak vengeance on the British Isles.
How can we reconcile these two sides of von Braun's life? How can we ever reconcile the lives of any researchers who develop miraculous cures AND deadly, contagious, weaponized viruses? Engineers who build nuclear power plants to heat, cool, and light our homes AND nuclear bombs that can lay waste to entire cities in a single searing flash? Chemists who create compounds that form new materials for our safety and comfort AND toxic gasses that choke the last breaths from civilian women and children?
With the launching of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and President Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon before 1970, the nation mobilized behind a newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Von Braun now headed the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. His army of engineers and technicians stepped America through the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Their crowning achievement was the launch of the Saturn V rocket - the most powerful rocket ever created before or since. With the success of the Apollo program and the footsteps of a dozen astronauts on the surface of the moon, America seemed to lose interest in the potential of travel to other worlds.
Von Braun moved to Washington in 1970 and retired from NASA in 1972 to pursue private corporate development of satellites, shuttles, space stations, and bases for Mars. Diagnosed with cancer shortly after retirement he died at the age of 65 in 1977. Most of his dreams for human space travel are still incomplete 45 years later. So the life of von Braun offers us a starting point to gain a perspective on what is the role of conscience in pure and applied science. What price are citizens willing to pay to expand across new horizons to seek new discoveries and create a new future for us all? To create a new future for us all? What threats are we willing to abide? What rewards do we insist upon to justify the dangers inevitably created?
Wernher von Braun Quotes
“I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.”
“Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a
murderer, each will use it differently.”
“There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space program: Your tax dollar will go farther.”
“Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.”
“Our two greatest problems are gravity and paper work. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.”
“Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go—and
he'll do plenty well when he gets there.”
“For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys.
I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.”
“I'm convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.”
“I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.”
“Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a
murderer, each will use it differently.”
“There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space program: Your tax dollar will go farther.”
“Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.”
“Our two greatest problems are gravity and paper work. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.”
“Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go—and
he'll do plenty well when he gets there.”
“For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys.
I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.”
“I'm convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.”
Wernher von Braun Timeline
1912 - Born in Wirsitz, Germany, father is Minister of Agriculture
1930 - Joins German Society for Space Travel (a rocket club)
1934 - Earns Ph.D. in physics after a B.S. in aeronautical engineering
1940 - Works on long range missiles, the V-2, in Peenemunde
1945 - Surrenders to the American military
1952 - Becomes technical head of U.S. Army Ordinance Guided Missile Project
1958 - Launches America's first artificial earth satellite, Explorer One
1960 - Appointed Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center
1969 - Works as chief architect of the Saturn V rocket that lands first man on the moon
1972 - Leaves NASA to become VP of aeronautic firm Fairchild Industries
1975 - Founds National Space Institute, a space advocacy group
1977 - Dies of pancreatic cancer
Chautauquan Scholar Spotlight - Larry Bounds
Larry Bounds has served 35 years as an award-winning classroom teacher with a Bachelor's degree in theatre and a Master's in education. Larry has appeared in Chautauqua productions across the nation since 2002 portraying Einstein, Churchill, Disney, and Cronkite, among others. He has also performed as a professional magician presenting shows for thousands of public, private, and corporate events as well as eight years entertaining for Ripley's Believe It or Not! In 1972 he witnessed, in person, the dazzling sight of the mighty Saturn V rocket launching against a night sky on the last manned flight to the moon. He never suspected that 50 years later no one else would have followed them; Wernher von Braun never suspected that either.
Larry Bounds has served 35 years as an award-winning classroom teacher with a Bachelor's degree in theatre and a Master's in education. Larry has appeared in Chautauqua productions across the nation since 2002 portraying Einstein, Churchill, Disney, and Cronkite, among others. He has also performed as a professional magician presenting shows for thousands of public, private, and corporate events as well as eight years entertaining for Ripley's Believe It or Not! In 1972 he witnessed, in person, the dazzling sight of the mighty Saturn V rocket launching against a night sky on the last manned flight to the moon. He never suspected that 50 years later no one else would have followed them; Wernher von Braun never suspected that either.
Josephine Baker (1906-1975)
By Becky Stone
Sponsored by High Plains Library District
In spite of being a citizen of France, Josephine Baker became fiercely American as her homeland became more of a social, moral, and political battleground. She embraced the opportunity to be a part of the fight for brotherhood and freedom.
Josephine was 19 when she went to Paris as the star of La Revue Négre, and she never looked back. France, and the world, loved her. Starved for acceptance and adulation, she reveled in that love. Then she returned home to the States and walked headlong into the racism she thought she had left behind.
Josephine had been in the home of presidents and the palaces of kings and queens, and yet could not walk into a hotel in America and buy a cup of coffee. She was determined to fight back. It was her right as a citizen to live America’s dream of freedom and equality. She had lived that dream in France. Josephine knew it was possible. It was time for her country to deliver on its promise.
On her world tours, Josephine visited “the people,” gave interviews, appeared at universities and political gatherings, and was hosted by royalty and political leaders. She also spoke publicly about the oppressive race relations in the United States. She never spoke against America. She simply spoke about life in our country for people of color. The United States government did not like it. The foreign press was covering the atrocities of Jim Crow and how it pervaded American life. And here was a prominent American citizen giving the Soviet propaganda machine all the evidence they needed to paint democracy as a fraud. She was suspected of being a Communist. The FBI investigated her and found that she had absolutely no ties to the Communist Party here or abroad. Her mission was simple – pressure America to live up to its promises.
In 1951, Josephine toured the United States after being spurned 20 years earlier. She finally had enough clout to demand that all of her audiences be fully integrated. Her producers complied. American Negroes saw her as their champion. In 1963 she was given the privilege of addressing the crowd at the March on Washington. It was another dream come true - to be a civil rights hero for her people in her own country.
Josephine was a dual citizen of the United States and France. She deeply loved France. She joined the French Resistance in World War II and served as a spy. France, in turn, awarded her with military honors. In November, 2021, Josephine was given France’s highest civilian honor – induction into the Parthenon. America has never embraced her so completely and passionately. Yet the French proved their love for her over and over. Even today, when the French speak of Josephine, they are referring to only one of two women in their history – Empress Josephine, Napoleon’s wife, or Josephine Baker.
Josephine Baker Quotes
“The white imagination is sure something when it comes to blacks.”
“I have never really been a great artist. I have been a human being that has loved art which is not the same thing.”
“Since I personified the savage on the stage, I tried to be as civilized as possible in daily life.”
“I shall dance all my life . . . . I would like to die breathless, spent, at the end of a dance.”
“I’m not intimidated by anyone.”
“I cannot work where my people cannot go. It’s as simple as that.”
Josephine Baker Timeline
1906 – Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the first child of Carrie McDonald, a washerwoman.
1919 -- Leaves home to travel with Clara Smith and the Dixie Steppers. She is 13 years old.
1925 – Travels to France to perform in Caroline Dudley’s show, La Revue Négre, and becomes a star. She was 19.
1926 – At the age of 20, she meets “Pepito” Abatino, her lover and the manager who changes her stage persona.
1937 – Marries Jean Lion and becomes a French citizen.
1939 – Joins the French Resistance and becomes a wartime spy. She is 33 years old.
1950 – Begins adopting her “Rainbow Tribe.” She is 44 years old.
1951 – Refuses to perform to segregated audiences in the United States; begins speaking out about the racism in the United States.
1963 – Speaks at the March on Washington.
1969 – Loses her chateau, Les Milandes, and is given a home by Princess Grace of Monaco.
1975 – Dies at age 68 from a brain hemorrhage three days after a triumphant comeback in Paris. Princess Grace has her buried in Monaco.
2021-- Inducted into the Pantheon, but her remains stay in Monaco.
Chautauqua Scholar Spotlight - Becky Stone
Becky Stone grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before going to Vassar College where she was a drama major. She earned an M.A. in elementary educational counseling from Villanova. Becky worked seven years as a counselor in the Philadelphia School System. In North Carolina, she taught drama for 10 years at a Christian classical school.
Becky’s performance experience includes acting professionally in regional theater companies and storytelling at schools, universities, museums, festivals, camps, and libraries.
She did her first Chautauqua character, Pauli Murray, in 2003 for the Greenville, S.C. Chautauqua. Becky has since developed Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Maya Angelou, and Josephine Baker.
Becky Stone grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before going to Vassar College where she was a drama major. She earned an M.A. in elementary educational counseling from Villanova. Becky worked seven years as a counselor in the Philadelphia School System. In North Carolina, she taught drama for 10 years at a Christian classical school.
Becky’s performance experience includes acting professionally in regional theater companies and storytelling at schools, universities, museums, festivals, camps, and libraries.
She did her first Chautauqua character, Pauli Murray, in 2003 for the Greenville, S.C. Chautauqua. Becky has since developed Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Maya Angelou, and Josephine Baker.
Annie Oakley (1860-1926)
by Elsa Wolff
Sponsored by The Weld Trust
Setting the Record Straight
It is educational and entertaining to study a colorful character such as Annie Oakley. However, when a character has been portrayed falsely by the entertainment industry, a certain “UN-learning” must first take place before one can understand the real story. Such is the case with the larger-than-life character of Annie Oakley. For some, the musical Annie Get Your Gun is their primary, if not only exposure to this world-renowned woman. While the 1946 Broadway production is a lively musical, it soundly missed the bull’s-eye of historical fact, especially when it came to the actual heroine of the production, Annie Oakley, and her husband, Frank Butler.
Born near Greenville, Ohio on August 13, 1860, Phoebe Ann Mosey (sometimes “Mosee” or “Moses”) was the fifth child of a family of seven children. Named “Annie” by her sisters, she was self-taught and started shooting in order to provide game for her widowed mother and family. As Annie put it, “I guess the love of a gun must have been born in me”.[1] She also developed a deep love for the out of doors and started a life-long love of hunting.
Overcoming poverty in her own family, Annie knew what it was to struggle. Another tragic chapter in young Annie’s life occurred when she was “bound out” to help a local family who ended up keeping Annie captive for two years, abusing her both physically and mentally. After she escaped that situation, Annie began earning money for her family using her shooting skills and also earning a reputation as a skilled rifle shot.
After she met and married sharpshooter Frank Butler, she chose the professional name of “Annie Oakley” and entered the vaudeville circuit with her husband. Frank stepped into the background as he saw his wife’s popularity growing. He trained her, supported her, managed her and delighted in her popularity. In 1885 Annie was the first white woman to join the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She and Frank performed with the Wild West Show for 17 years. During those years, she continued to participate in trapshooting competitions, shooting exhibitions and also began teaching women to shoot.
Annie Oakley was a pioneer as a working woman and helped open doors for women to take part in the male-dominated sport of shooting. In her life, it is said that she coached more than 2,000 women in firearm shooting and safety. Her opinion was that all women should know how to shoot. She said, “I have found that women are just as good at shooting as men, given the practice. I have always maintained that, outside of heavy manual labor, anything a man can do a woman can do just as well.”[2]
Annie Oakley was known as “The Peerless Wing and Rifle Shot.” Lakota Chief, Sitting Bull adopted her and named her, "Watanya Cicilla" or “Little Sure Shot.” There were two things of utmost importance to Annie Oakley – her reputation as “the real thing” in a day when there were many “fakers,” and her reputation as a lady. She made sure her shooting feats could not be faked and she always maintained her femininity despite competing in a man’s sport. “When I began shooting in public it was considered almost shameful for a woman to shoot. That was a man’s business, you see.”[3] She was certainly not the only female sharpshooter of her day, but no other woman enjoyed the same kind of international fame or lasting success as did Annie Oakley. Even though she was from Ohio, Annie Oakley became known as a Western Girl because of her long association with The Wild West Show.
Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill became America’s first international superstars as their popularity spread across the states and abroad. The Wild West Show spent over three years in Europe, first in a trip to England and later to be a part of the Universal Exposition in Paris, where 32 million people came to the show. Annie Oakley’s fame spread across the world and the Wild West Show brought a moving picture of America’s frontier to Europeans.
Annie Oakley suffered from “yellow journalism,” being a subject of false reports. Once she was shocked to read that she had died of congestion of the lungs in Buenos Aires! When a false story spread across the country, harming her hard-won reputation, Annie Oakley took on publishing giant Randolph Hearst in what was to be America’s largest liable suit as she fought to restore her hard-won reputation.
Annie continued to set records into her 60s, even after being injured in an automobile accident that caused her to wear a steel brace on her right leg. She died November 3, 1926, at the age of 66. Her memory lives on in hundreds of articles, biographies, dramatizations and films, and several museum displays, especially in her home state of Ohio.
[1] Kasper, Annie Oakley, 1992. P7.
[2] Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, 50.
[3] Ibid., Oakley, 49.
Annie Oakley Quotes:
“Aim for the high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time, and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting, for
only practice will make you perfect. Finally, you'll hit the bull's-eye of success.”
“I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies.”
“God intended women to be outside as well as men, and they do not know what they are missing when they stay cooped up in the house.”
“When a man hits a target, they call him a marksman. When I hit a target, they call it a trick. Never did like that much.”
“I have always maintained that, outside of heavy manual labor, anything a man can do a woman can do just as well.”
Sponsored by The Weld Trust
Setting the Record Straight
It is educational and entertaining to study a colorful character such as Annie Oakley. However, when a character has been portrayed falsely by the entertainment industry, a certain “UN-learning” must first take place before one can understand the real story. Such is the case with the larger-than-life character of Annie Oakley. For some, the musical Annie Get Your Gun is their primary, if not only exposure to this world-renowned woman. While the 1946 Broadway production is a lively musical, it soundly missed the bull’s-eye of historical fact, especially when it came to the actual heroine of the production, Annie Oakley, and her husband, Frank Butler.
Born near Greenville, Ohio on August 13, 1860, Phoebe Ann Mosey (sometimes “Mosee” or “Moses”) was the fifth child of a family of seven children. Named “Annie” by her sisters, she was self-taught and started shooting in order to provide game for her widowed mother and family. As Annie put it, “I guess the love of a gun must have been born in me”.[1] She also developed a deep love for the out of doors and started a life-long love of hunting.
Overcoming poverty in her own family, Annie knew what it was to struggle. Another tragic chapter in young Annie’s life occurred when she was “bound out” to help a local family who ended up keeping Annie captive for two years, abusing her both physically and mentally. After she escaped that situation, Annie began earning money for her family using her shooting skills and also earning a reputation as a skilled rifle shot.
After she met and married sharpshooter Frank Butler, she chose the professional name of “Annie Oakley” and entered the vaudeville circuit with her husband. Frank stepped into the background as he saw his wife’s popularity growing. He trained her, supported her, managed her and delighted in her popularity. In 1885 Annie was the first white woman to join the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She and Frank performed with the Wild West Show for 17 years. During those years, she continued to participate in trapshooting competitions, shooting exhibitions and also began teaching women to shoot.
Annie Oakley was a pioneer as a working woman and helped open doors for women to take part in the male-dominated sport of shooting. In her life, it is said that she coached more than 2,000 women in firearm shooting and safety. Her opinion was that all women should know how to shoot. She said, “I have found that women are just as good at shooting as men, given the practice. I have always maintained that, outside of heavy manual labor, anything a man can do a woman can do just as well.”[2]
Annie Oakley was known as “The Peerless Wing and Rifle Shot.” Lakota Chief, Sitting Bull adopted her and named her, "Watanya Cicilla" or “Little Sure Shot.” There were two things of utmost importance to Annie Oakley – her reputation as “the real thing” in a day when there were many “fakers,” and her reputation as a lady. She made sure her shooting feats could not be faked and she always maintained her femininity despite competing in a man’s sport. “When I began shooting in public it was considered almost shameful for a woman to shoot. That was a man’s business, you see.”[3] She was certainly not the only female sharpshooter of her day, but no other woman enjoyed the same kind of international fame or lasting success as did Annie Oakley. Even though she was from Ohio, Annie Oakley became known as a Western Girl because of her long association with The Wild West Show.
Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill became America’s first international superstars as their popularity spread across the states and abroad. The Wild West Show spent over three years in Europe, first in a trip to England and later to be a part of the Universal Exposition in Paris, where 32 million people came to the show. Annie Oakley’s fame spread across the world and the Wild West Show brought a moving picture of America’s frontier to Europeans.
Annie Oakley suffered from “yellow journalism,” being a subject of false reports. Once she was shocked to read that she had died of congestion of the lungs in Buenos Aires! When a false story spread across the country, harming her hard-won reputation, Annie Oakley took on publishing giant Randolph Hearst in what was to be America’s largest liable suit as she fought to restore her hard-won reputation.
Annie continued to set records into her 60s, even after being injured in an automobile accident that caused her to wear a steel brace on her right leg. She died November 3, 1926, at the age of 66. Her memory lives on in hundreds of articles, biographies, dramatizations and films, and several museum displays, especially in her home state of Ohio.
[1] Kasper, Annie Oakley, 1992. P7.
[2] Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, 50.
[3] Ibid., Oakley, 49.
Annie Oakley Quotes:
“Aim for the high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time, and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting, for
only practice will make you perfect. Finally, you'll hit the bull's-eye of success.”
“I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies.”
“God intended women to be outside as well as men, and they do not know what they are missing when they stay cooped up in the house.”
“When a man hits a target, they call him a marksman. When I hit a target, they call it a trick. Never did like that much.”
“I have always maintained that, outside of heavy manual labor, anything a man can do a woman can do just as well.”
Annie Oakley Timeline:
August 13, 1860 Phoebe Ann Moses born in Darke County, Ohio
1886 Phoebe Ann’s father, Jacob Moses dies of pneumonia
1868 Phoebe Ann fired her father’s rifle for first time
1875 Wins in a shooting contest against Irish immigrant, Frank Butler
1876 Marries Frank Butler
1885 Joins Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show
1887 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show travels to England
1889-1891 Wild West Show performs in Paris and travels throughout Europe
1901 Train Accident. Annie leaves Wild West Show.
1903 Story printed in newspapers throughout country that Annie Oakley had
been imprisoned for stealing to pay for cocaine. Annie sues Hearst.
1911 Annie joins Young Buffalo Wild West Show
1913 Annie retires from performing
November 3, 1926 At 66 yrs old, Annie Oakley dies in Greenville, Ohio.
Frank Butler dies only 18 days later.
August 13, 1860 Phoebe Ann Moses born in Darke County, Ohio
1886 Phoebe Ann’s father, Jacob Moses dies of pneumonia
1868 Phoebe Ann fired her father’s rifle for first time
1875 Wins in a shooting contest against Irish immigrant, Frank Butler
1876 Marries Frank Butler
1885 Joins Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show
1887 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show travels to England
1889-1891 Wild West Show performs in Paris and travels throughout Europe
1901 Train Accident. Annie leaves Wild West Show.
1903 Story printed in newspapers throughout country that Annie Oakley had
been imprisoned for stealing to pay for cocaine. Annie sues Hearst.
1911 Annie joins Young Buffalo Wild West Show
1913 Annie retires from performing
November 3, 1926 At 66 yrs old, Annie Oakley dies in Greenville, Ohio.
Frank Butler dies only 18 days later.
Chautauqua Scholar Spotlight - Elsa Wolff
Elsa Wolff, entertainer and educator, has been performing, singing and teaching for 20 years. An award-winning Storyteller, Elsa is also known as "The Guitar Lady" and performs throughout the Denver area. In 2008 Elsa added Living History to her pursuits as she began portraying Amelia Earhart. Since then she has added Minnie Pearl, Maria von Trapp, and Annie Oakley to her repertoire. She has traveled throughout the United States presenting these historical characters. With excitement for this format of experiencing history, Elsa became involved in Colorado Humanities' Young Chautauqua Program and enjoys coaching students of all ages. Whether it is performing as herself or bringing a person of interest to life, Elsa strives to infuse the audience with a renewed measure of purpose and courage. She is mother of 4 children and lives with her husband in Colorado.
Elsa Wolff, entertainer and educator, has been performing, singing and teaching for 20 years. An award-winning Storyteller, Elsa is also known as "The Guitar Lady" and performs throughout the Denver area. In 2008 Elsa added Living History to her pursuits as she began portraying Amelia Earhart. Since then she has added Minnie Pearl, Maria von Trapp, and Annie Oakley to her repertoire. She has traveled throughout the United States presenting these historical characters. With excitement for this format of experiencing history, Elsa became involved in Colorado Humanities' Young Chautauqua Program and enjoys coaching students of all ages. Whether it is performing as herself or bringing a person of interest to life, Elsa strives to infuse the audience with a renewed measure of purpose and courage. She is mother of 4 children and lives with her husband in Colorado.
El Vaquero, America’s First Cowboy
by Angel Vigil
Sponsored by The Tointon Family Foundation
El Vaquero, the Spanish colonial cowboy, is a true American hero. He was the first cowboy to ride the open ranges and sleep under the stars. He was the first cowboy to tame the wild horses of the plains and deliver vast herds of cattle across great distances. He was the first master of the basic and eternal cowboy skills: riding and roping. He was the repository of highly practical and effective Spanish wisdom and experience in the ways of horses and cattle, developed over generations on the open plains of European Spain and New Spain in the Americas. His language gave us the words we now accept as common cowboy lingo: rodeo, chaps, wrangler, lariat, hoosgow, lasso, mustang, corral, dally, buckaroo, bronco, stampede and bandana, to name a few.
Without the Spanish Vaquero there would be no John Wayne, no Gene Autry, no Roy Rogers, no Dale Evans, no Lone Ranger, no Annie Oakley, no Cisco Kid, no Hopalong Cassidy, no rodeos, no Stetson Cowboy hat, no cowboy boots, no horses, no cattle, no trail drives, no cowboys singing around the campfire, no country western music, no Hank Williams, no Willie Nelson, no “Black Hat” modern country western singers, no Grand Old Opry in Nashville, no “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys,” no Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows, no National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, no mythos of the cowboy at the heart of America’s self-identity believed at home and exported worldwide, almost no Western Culture at all. El Vaquero is a seminal figure in the creation of Western Arts and Culture. His story is the story of the creation of the American West.
From his humble beginnings as a Spanish mission Indian tending to the mission’s cattle herds to his glory days before the legendary American trail drives, el vaquero was the primary character in the story of the establishment of cowboy and ranching culture in the American West. His story begins with the introduction of horses and cattle to the New World by the Spanish and continues uninterrupted to his critical tutelage of American cattle men as they began to establish the great cattle industry of the 19th century. El Vaquero is a composite character based upon traditional vaquero stories and histories. His story is the living history of the origins and development of traditional cowboy practices in the American West. As El Vaquero talks about his clothing, tools, and lifeways a clear picture emerges identifying his traditional Spanish practices as the source of the daily activities of today’s ranch worker. As living history, his stories illuminate the contrasts between the romanticized Hollywood depictions of the cowboy with the realities of the real working cowboy. With stories as diverse as the tedious, dust-filled miles on the trail, to the lonely beauty of a star-lit night riding herd as he sings to slumbering cattle, to the stark, death filled panic of a stampede, El Vaquero gives a first-hand account of what it was like to make both myth and history.
The stories of El Vaquero explain the origins of the most powerful and enduring American myth: the cowboy on his horse, riding tall in the saddle, his self-reliant, independent spirit representing all that is good in the American character. The stories of El Vaquero are the stories of America. His story is the story of the American West.
El Vaquero Character Quote
“Here was the original native-son vaquero of our United States, another of those picturesque types that mushroomed to glory, did their bit in the building of our history, and then were properly labeled and stored away in the museum cabinet of our glorious Western Americana.”
— Californicos, The Saga of the Hard-riding Vaqueros, America’s First Cowboy
El Vaquero Timeline
11th century: Spanish ranching originates on the Spanish peninsula.
1493: On his second voyage to the New World, Columbus brings the hardy Andalusian “black cattle” to the Caribbean Island he called Española, today the Dominican Republic and Haiti. This was the introduction of cattle and Spanish ranching practices to the New World.
1519: Hernán Cortéz arrives in Mexico and brings 16 Andalusian horses, 11 stallions and 5 mares, thereby re-introducing the horse to the New World.
1521: Gregorio de Villalobos transports calves from the Caribbean islands to mainland Mexico.
1598: Spanish settlers, led by Juan de Oñate, move north, establishing ranches and introducing cattle to the El Paso area and north of the Rio Grande.
1600s: Cattle graze and multiply north of the Rio Grande.
Early 1700s: Vaqueros migrate from Mexico with Spanish missionaries to California and Texas.
1721: Marqués de Aguayo opens the South Texas cattle industry.
1748: José de Escandón develops the cradle of the western cattle industry by establishing ranchos in the huge expanse of land called the Nueces Strip, from the Rio Grande to the Nueces River.
1769: Franciscan monk Junípero Serra begins establishing missions from San Diego to San Francisco. Native Indians working on the missions become California’s first vaqueros.
Late 1700s-Early 1800s: Vaqueros drive cattle from East Texas to Louisiana and Mexico.
Early 1800s: Anglos begin to arrive in what will become Texas and find Spanish-Mexican ranching traditions well-established. Texas vaqueros teach the Anglo settlers the skills and craft of handling horses and cattle on the open range.
1821: Mexico declares its independence from Spain.
1820s-1830s: Slaves and freemen learn horse and cattle skills from the vaquero - roping, riding, and branding.
1848: Mexico loses over half its country to the United States. This land becomes the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and California. Spanish-Mexican vaqueros continue to work in their new country, the United States.
1867-1887: The primary era of the great cattle drives. Anglo cowboys utilize the cattle practices learned from the vaqueros to drive hundreds of thousands of cattle across great distances. Vaqueros, along with Black cowboys, make up approximately one-third of the cowboys working the cattle drives. It is during this period that American cowboy culture developed based upon the centuries-old skills and practices of the Spanish-Mexican vaquero.
1887: The era of the great cattle drive ends.
1880s: William Cody produces the Wild West Shows, beginning the myth of the American cowboy. Vaqueros perform in the Wild West Show amazing audiences with their roping and riding skills.
11th century: Spanish ranching originates on the Spanish peninsula.
1493: On his second voyage to the New World, Columbus brings the hardy Andalusian “black cattle” to the Caribbean Island he called Española, today the Dominican Republic and Haiti. This was the introduction of cattle and Spanish ranching practices to the New World.
1519: Hernán Cortéz arrives in Mexico and brings 16 Andalusian horses, 11 stallions and 5 mares, thereby re-introducing the horse to the New World.
1521: Gregorio de Villalobos transports calves from the Caribbean islands to mainland Mexico.
1598: Spanish settlers, led by Juan de Oñate, move north, establishing ranches and introducing cattle to the El Paso area and north of the Rio Grande.
1600s: Cattle graze and multiply north of the Rio Grande.
Early 1700s: Vaqueros migrate from Mexico with Spanish missionaries to California and Texas.
1721: Marqués de Aguayo opens the South Texas cattle industry.
1748: José de Escandón develops the cradle of the western cattle industry by establishing ranchos in the huge expanse of land called the Nueces Strip, from the Rio Grande to the Nueces River.
1769: Franciscan monk Junípero Serra begins establishing missions from San Diego to San Francisco. Native Indians working on the missions become California’s first vaqueros.
Late 1700s-Early 1800s: Vaqueros drive cattle from East Texas to Louisiana and Mexico.
Early 1800s: Anglos begin to arrive in what will become Texas and find Spanish-Mexican ranching traditions well-established. Texas vaqueros teach the Anglo settlers the skills and craft of handling horses and cattle on the open range.
1821: Mexico declares its independence from Spain.
1820s-1830s: Slaves and freemen learn horse and cattle skills from the vaquero - roping, riding, and branding.
1848: Mexico loses over half its country to the United States. This land becomes the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and California. Spanish-Mexican vaqueros continue to work in their new country, the United States.
1867-1887: The primary era of the great cattle drives. Anglo cowboys utilize the cattle practices learned from the vaqueros to drive hundreds of thousands of cattle across great distances. Vaqueros, along with Black cowboys, make up approximately one-third of the cowboys working the cattle drives. It is during this period that American cowboy culture developed based upon the centuries-old skills and practices of the Spanish-Mexican vaquero.
1887: The era of the great cattle drive ends.
1880s: William Cody produces the Wild West Shows, beginning the myth of the American cowboy. Vaqueros perform in the Wild West Show amazing audiences with their roping and riding skills.
Chautauqua Scholar Spotlight - Angel Vigil
Angel Vigil is Retired Chairman of the Fine and Performing Arts Department and Director of Drama at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colorado. Angel is an award-winning author, educator and storyteller. He has appeared at national storytelling festivals throughout the United States.
His awards include the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education, a Heritage Artist Award, a Master Artist Award and a CO Visions Recognition Fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts, the Mayor’s Individual Artist Fellowship and the Colorado Theatre Educator of the Year Award.
Angel is the author of six books on Hispanic culture and arts. His book on the cowboy west is Riding Tall in the Saddle, the Cowboy Fact Book.
Angel Vigil is Retired Chairman of the Fine and Performing Arts Department and Director of Drama at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colorado. Angel is an award-winning author, educator and storyteller. He has appeared at national storytelling festivals throughout the United States.
His awards include the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education, a Heritage Artist Award, a Master Artist Award and a CO Visions Recognition Fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts, the Mayor’s Individual Artist Fellowship and the Colorado Theatre Educator of the Year Award.
Angel is the author of six books on Hispanic culture and arts. His book on the cowboy west is Riding Tall in the Saddle, the Cowboy Fact Book.
Past High Plains Chautauqua Performances
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2018
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2017 |
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2016
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