The Most American Thing in America: Circuit Chautauqua as Performance (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture)

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The Chautauqua style of teaching is a recurring motif in Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. [2] While many abolitionists based their activism on the belief that slaveholding was a sin, others were more inclined to the non-religious “free-labor” argument, which held that slaveholding was regressive, inefficient and made little economic sense.

Abolition became a goal only later, due to military necessity, growing anti-slavery sentiment in the North and the self-emancipation of many people who fled enslavement as Union troops swept through the South. When Did Slavery End? Many masters raped enslaved women, and rewarded obedient behavior with favors, while rebellious enslaved people were brutally punished. A strict hierarchy among the enslaved (from privileged house workers and skilled artisans down to lowly field hands) helped keep them divided and less likely to organize against their masters. A route taken by a troupe of Chautauqua entertainers, the May Valentine Opera Company, which presented Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado during its 1925 "Summer Season", began on March 26 in Abbeville, Louisiana, and ended on September 6 in Sidney, Montana. [31] In popular culture [ edit ] In 1859, two years after the Dred Scott decision, an event occurred that would ignite passions nationwide over the issue of slavery. Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines, 1865-1885. Vol.3. The Belknap Press. pp.544–47. ISBN 9780674395527.Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, people were kidnapped from the continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies and exploited to work in the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton. The insurrection exposed the growing national rift over slavery: Brown was hailed as a martyred hero by northern abolitionists but was vilified as a mass murderer in the South. Civil War A map of the United States that shows 'free states,' 'slave states,' and 'undecided' ones, as it appeared in the book 'American Slavery and Colour,' by William Chambers, 1857. Americans who had never studied chemistry saw frozen CO2 and other wonders. Farm wives sat by the lake, sketching, painting. Thousands forced to leave school for work listened to professors from Boston and New York. In 1892 alone, Chautauqua featured 168 different talks. In Vawter's scheme, each performer or group appeared on a particular day of the program. "First-day" talent would move on to other Chautauquas, followed by the "second-day" performers, and so on, throughout the touring season. By the mid-1920s, when circuit Chautauquas were at their peak, they appeared in over 10,000 communities to audiences of more than 45 million; by about 1940 they had run their course. [18] The Chautauquan [ edit ]

This article is about the adult-education movement. For other uses, see Chautauqua (disambiguation). Cover of a 1917 promotional brochureThe educational summer camp format proved popular for families and was widely copied by several Chautauquas. Within a decade, "Chautauqua assemblies" (or simply "Chautauquas"), named for the location in New York, sprang up in various North American locations. The Chautauqua movement beginning in the 1870s may be regarded as a successor to the Lyceum movement from the 1840s. [7] As the Chautauquas began to compete for the best performers and lecturers, lyceum bureaus assisted with bookings. Today, Lakeside Chautauqua and the Chautauqua Institution, the two largest Chautauquas, still draw thousands each summer season. Case, Victoria (28 March 2007). We Called It Culture - The Story Of Chautauqua. Chapman Press. p.284. ISBN 9781406775440 . Retrieved 10 February 2018. In the 1890s, both Chautauqua and vaudeville were gaining popularity and establishing themselves as important forms of entertainment. While Chautauqua had its roots in Sunday school and valued morality and education highly, vaudeville grew out of minstrel shows, variety acts, and crude humor, and so the two movements found themselves at odds. Chautauqua was considered wholesome family entertainment and appealed to middle classes and people who considered themselves respectable or aspired to respectability. Vaudeville, on the other hand, was widely considered vulgar babbitry, and appealed to working-class men. There was a stark distinction between the two, and they generally did not share performers or audiences. [24] [25] SOCIAL MOVEMENT THAT TEDDY ROOSEVELT PROCLAIMED THE MOST AMERICAN THING IN AMERICA Crossword Answer Though Lincoln’s anti-slavery views were well established, the central Union war aim at first was not to abolish slavery, but to preserve the United States as a nation.

Hibschman, Harry (1928). "Chautauqua "Pro" and "Contra" ". The North American Review. 225 (843): 597–605. JSTOR 25110497. Independent Chautauquas (or "daughter Chautauquas") operated at permanent facilities, usually fashioned after the Chautauqua Institute in New York, or at rented venues such as in an amusement park. [8] [9] Such Chautauquas were generally built in an attractive semirural location a short distance outside an established town with good rail service. At the Chautauqua movement's height in the 1920s, several hundred of these existed, but their numbers have since dwindled. [10] [11] Circuit Chautauquas [ edit ] Advertisement for the 1906 Tent Chautauqua at Clay Center, Kansas.

Black Friday

Drive through the desert, get there, enjoy its beauty for five minutes, spend another five minutes there because you feel bad, then figure out what to do with the rest of your day. In 1850, another tenuous compromise was negotiated to resolve the question of slavery in territories won during the Mexican-American War. Within a few years, the annual summer gathering added language lessons, art classes, and talks on science. To demonstrate electricity, one professor electrified the carcass of a cow. “When the other pole was touched to the surface of the skin,” a man recalled, “there resulted the most lifelike muscular contractions — the eyelids winked, the nostrils contracted, and the lips and tongue moved. Imagine what a sensation this produced!” Lectures were the mainstay of the Chautauqua. Until 1917, they dominated the circuit Chautauqua programs. The reform speech and the inspirational talk were the two main types of lecture until 1913. [20] Later topics included current events, travel, and stories, often with a comedic twist. [ citation needed] The most famous speech [ edit ] The most prolific speaker (often booked in the same venues with three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan) was Russell Conwell, who delivered his famous " Acres of Diamonds" speech 5,000 times to audiences on the Chautauqua and Lyceum circuits, which had this theme: [20]

On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, and on January 1, 1863, he made it official that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State…in rebellion,…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” As you're no doubt aware from syndicated American television overseas, everything's bigger in Texas; so there’s no better place to test your gastric limits than with the 72oz steak challenge at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Eat the full meal in one hour, and it's free. Afterwards you’ll feel extremely patriotic -- unfortunately, that’s not patriotism your heart is exploding with. Gentile, John S (1989): Cast of One: One-Person Shows from the Chautauqua Platform to the Broadway Stage. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01584-3. Gould, Joseph Edward (1961): "The Chautauqua Movement". Albany, New York. State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-87395-003-8.

Four years later, however, the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened all new territories to slavery by asserting the rule of popular sovereignty over congressional edict, leading pro- and anti-slavery forces to battle it out—with considerable bloodshed—in the new state of Kansas. Landowners sought to make their enslaved completely dependent on them through a system of restrictive codes. They were usually prohibited from learning to read and write, and their behavior and movement were restricted. Chautauquas can be viewed in the context of the populist ferment of the late 19th century. Manifestos such as the " Populist Party Platform" [29] voiced disdain for political corruption and championed the plight of the common people in the face of the rich and powerful. Other favorite political reform topics in Chautauqua lectures included temperance (even prohibition), women's suffrage, and child labor laws. [ citation needed] a b c Tapia, John E. (1997). Circuit chautauqua: from rural education to popular entertainment in early twentieth century America. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p.53. ISBN 0-7864-0213-X . Retrieved January 8, 2011.