“Bright Dreams, Hard Times: America in the Thirties”
Hastings, Nebraska, July 2-6, 2008
Welcome to historic Hastings! In hosting this
year’s Chautauqua, Hastings is celebrating a tradition over 100 years old. In the summer of 1906,
Hastings celebrated its first Chautauqua. For 10 days
Hastings residents and visitors enjoyed musical, educational, and inspirational programs. Held in a circus-like tent, it drew 8,000 people, and 125 tents
were pitched in the surrounding park for families to
stay in during the festivities.
The event was so popular that a large pavilion
was built in 1907 to house future Chautauquas. The
pavilion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 because of its unique architectural form and esthetic distinction. The custom of
Chautauqua remained a part of Hastings summers
until the early 1920s when other forms of entertainment became popular. In 1976, a Bicentennial
Chautauqua was attended by 15,000 people.
This year’s Chautauqua will encompass the
Fourth of July weekend and will include other area
attractions. A community celebration and parade
will be held at the historic Fisher Fountain, which
was built during the Depression and features a light
and water show every evening. A state-of-the-art
fireworks display will take place at Brickyard Park,
where artifacts document Hastings brick-making
businesses that began in the 1880s. The five-story
Lied Super Screen Theatre, located at the Hastings
Museum of Natural and Cultural History, will show
films as part of the Chautauqua experience. The
museum also houses the J.M. McDonald Planetarium, the only one of its kind between Denver
and Chicago.
Historic downtown Hastings has a combination of shopping, dining, and living spaces. Brass
plaques identify 25 points of interest. Not to be
missed is the birthplace of KoolAid, America’s most
loved soft drink. Across the street is the Burlington
Depot, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and functions both as a train station
and the home of Dutton-Lainson’s retail branch.
The Dutton-Lainson Co. worked with government
agencies during its renovation. The Victory Building stands nearby and houses Dutton-Lainson’s administrative offices as well as Cornhusker Press. It
was placed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1987. The Clark Hotel, which is now the
The Lied Super Screen Theatre and the Hastings
Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Kensington, is also on the National Register. It currently functions as an assisted-living facility. Other
downtown buildings of interest are the City Auditorium, the Cameron building, the Stein Building,
the Strand Theatre, the Farrell Block, and the Stitt
building. Included in a walking tour of downtown
are bronze sculptures, collected from artists who
display at the annual Cottonwood Prairie Festival.
Central Hastings Historic District was listed
on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003
and is featured in a fountain-to-fountain walking tour.
In 1878, it became the first northern addition to the
city. The district includes 386 homes and represents three periods of growth in Hastings, the Victorian period, the Arts and Crafts period, and the
Modern period.
The Heartwell Park Historic District was
placed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1999 and features 55 residences in the neighborhood of the park. Other areas of historic inter-
est include sites of the Germans from Russia settlement and McCormick Hall at Hastings College. A
self-guided tour of the former Naval Ammunitions
Depot, the world’s largest in World War II, is available.
Not all attractions in Hastings are historic in
nature. Of particular interest during the heat of
Chautauqua is the Hastings Aquacourt, a water park
that includes a wave pool, diving boards, a variety
of slides and a river. Adjacent to the Chautauqua
pavilion, it is easily accessible to families. The
Hastings Family YMCA provides two places for
families to participate in fun and fitness activities.
The Smith Softball Complex and Softball Hall
of Fame is the home of the Nebraska Softball Association. Motorsport Park, on Hastings’ eastern
edge, draws racing fans from across the nation. The
Children’s Museum of Central Nebraska offers interactive activities for families with children up to
age 10. Night sky viewing is offered at Hastings
College’s Sachlteben Observatory every Saturday.
Located near the center of the United States,
Hastings is 150 miles west of Omaha and 100 miles
west of Lincoln. Hastings boasts more than 500
motel rooms and a variety of dining experiences.
With a population of about 25,000, it is home to
735 retail and service businesses, manufacturers,
corporations, and non-profit groups. Mary Lanning
Memorial Hospital, a 183-bed, acute-care medical facility offers care in more than 30 medical specialties. The City Parks and Recreational Department maintains 18 parks and there are six nearby
camping facilities. In 2007 Hastings was declared
America’s greenest city by Yahoo.com.
All this and more make Hastings a wonderful
place to spend a weekend!
Index
Surviving the Depression Required Action by John Wunder ..................... Page 2
Will Rogers: Speaker for the “Common Man” by Doug Watson ................ Page 4
FDR: Architect of the “New Deal” by Patrick E. McGinnis ...................... Page 6
Huey Long: Seeker of Power Through Populism by Fred Krebs ....... Page 8
Nebraska Humanities Council .............................................................. Page 10
Aimee Semple McPherson: Evangelism in Action by Tonia Compton ...... Page 12
Zora Neale Hurston: “Wrasslin up a Future” by Wanda Schell ................. Page 14
Scholar workshops ............................................................................... Page 16
Schedule of events ............................................................................ Page 18
History of Chautauqua in Nebraska .................................................... Page 19
Letter from the mayor and sponsor recognition ................................... Page 20
Surviving The Depression Required Action
By John R. Wunder
For many historians, the 1930s represent a time
when Americans were looking for ways to survive in a
national crisis. Indeed, the crisis was not a simple one.
Its complexities included an extensive economic depression, a devastating environmental disaster—the Dust
Bowl on the Great Plains—and the looming signs of yet
another world war. How Americans sought to understand and prevail over these national catastrophes is a
tale of determination and success.
Seeking to survive the Thirties required innovation in all aspects of American society. People were
searching for solutions to all of these problems. They
experienced a variety of emotions—frustration, anger,
and sadness—and responded with introspection, diversions, religious explanations, blame, and urgency.
Above all, Americans sought action, from themselves,
within their communities and beyond. The Great Plains
was no exception.
Politically, Americans wanted to create a new relationship between citizens and their national government. It became painfully obvious that the calamity could
not be resolved at the local or state levels because the
problems were simply too monstrous. It required a flexible approach. Even in the early Thirties, Americans
doubted that the new ideas and new actions by the national government would work. Voters overwhelmingly
chose a new leader who was charismatic but who had
only a glimmer of a plan.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, from a wealthy New York
political family and the Democratic Party, came forward
with his New Deal programs that attempted to provide
relief, begin recovery, and implement lasting reforms that
would prevent future economic, environmental and diplomatic disasters. To do so meant giving up what had in
the past been regarded as sacred local rights, butAmericans were willing. With unemployment at record levels,
a huge number of homeless people on the move, the
worst economy in national history, a lengthy drought
that attacked the agricultural heartland, and a harsh racial division throughout society, unrest, instability and
even revolution were possibilities. The optimism and
strength that sustained Roosevelt through a severe attack of paralysis were echoed in his first inaugural
speech, reminding Americans that “we have nothing to
fear but fear itself.”
Not all Americans agreed with Roosevelt’s approach. Some felt that not enough was being done, and
“Dust Storm,” Herschel Logan, 1938, a woodcut. Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society.
they advocated greater authoritarian action on the part
of the federal government. They included Huey Long,
governor and later senator from Louisiana; Father
Charles Coughlin and his radio programs; and William
Lemke, congressman from North Dakota and ally of
Father Coughlin in a third political party, the Union Party.
The small American Communist Party—including the
firebrand Mother Ella Bloor—and the Socialist Party
as championed by African-American union leader A.
Philip Randolph were impatient with Roosevelt’s government.
Other groups disagreed with Roosevelt for very
different reasons. Some believed that the New Deal
intruded too far into the rights of the states and individuals, while others thought it was not being implemented
efficiently. This conservative approach to the crisis was
advocated by business leaders within the Republican
Party, such as Emporia, Kan., newspaper publisher
William Allen White, and represented by the Republi-
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can Party candidate for president in 1936, Alfred
Landon, the governor of Kansas. A majority of voters
rejected all of these concepts, although at various points
during the Thirties Huey Long and Father Coughlin attracted large followings.
Out of the New Deal came Social Security, major public works projects putting Americans to work,
the Tennessee ValleyAuthority (sponsored by Nebraska
Sen. George Norris), protection for labor unions and
businesses through regulations and codes mutually devised, and agricultural programs to help raise the price
of livestock and grain for production and encourage
environmentally sound practices.
The Thirties, however, were not just about politics and a new relationship of the American people with
their national government. American society changed
drastically in its search for meaning in the midst of crisis.
Many Americans looked for religious explanations and
comfort in a period of extreme suffering. Traditional
Christian religions seemed too tame to many and offered few answers. Like the early national era and the
time of the Great Awakening, thousands of Americans
converted to Protestant Pentecostalism. Americans
needed individualized and personal approaches to religion as they sought solutions and solace for the problems they faced in everyday life.
This movement gained significant momentum in
the Thirties. Pentecostals were attracted to the ministry
of Aimee Semple McPherson, a Canadian with a charismatic and dramatic flare who set up headquarters in
California. She ministered to hundreds of thousands in
their time of need. By experiencing the Holy Ghost,
Americans could be soothed when they asked, “Why
has God done this to us? What have we done that has
caused these calamities?”
Americans also sought diversions from their everyday life, filled with so much stress and sorrow. They
watched the movies of Henry Fonda and Clark Gable.
They followed athletes, particularly boxer Joe Louis and
baseball player Joe DiMaggio. Thousands listened to
the radio. Politically savvy leaders such as FDR, Father
Coughlin and Aimee Semple McPherson used radio to
reach their followers, much as Will Rogers did to entertainAmericans while serving asAmerica’s humorist.
Artists and writers depicted images and told stories about individual suffering that the American people
needed to help alleviate their despair. Dorothea Lange’s
photographs came to epitomize the Thirties, as did writer
John Steinbeck’s depiction of the Dust Bowl and the
“Okie” migration west. Zora Neale Hurston’s novels
from the Harlem Renaissance and folklore from the
southern black experience captured these moments in
time and greatly moved Americans.
In the search for survival, Americans uprooted
their world as they knew it. They had to do so. The
crisis of the Thirties required political, economic, social,
intellectual, and emotional solutions. In every conceiv-
able fashion, the health of the nation was on the line.
Such ingenuity served the nation well when confronting
the horrors of a forthcoming world war.
John R. Wunder is professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He co-edited “Americans View Their Dust Bowl Experience,” published
in 1999.
Audiences will gather under the big tent for “Bright Dreams, Hard Times: America in the Thirties.”
What to expect under the tent
Nebraska Sen. George Norris sponsored the bill
creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Chautauqua audiences will gather under
the big tent to enjoy entertainment, followed by
first-person interpretations of important characters of the 1930s. There are four parts to a
Chautauqua evening:
1. Entertainment by a musical or theatrical
performer.
2. Presentations from historical figures (the
moderator and the evening’s guest).
3. Questions from the audience directed
at the historical figures, who will answer as the
figures would have responded.
4. Questions from the audience directed
at scholars, who will answer as their research
suggests and correct self-serving answers by historical figures or shed light on a subject the historical figure would not have been able to do.
The Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua begins
on Wednesday with a social that provides an
opportunity to meet and mingle with the
Chautauquans.
Humorist Will Rogers (Doug Watson)
opens the Thursday evening presentation with
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antics, rope tricks, and humor. He also will be
the moderator for each evening’s
performance. Thursday night’s main presentation is by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(Patrick McGinnis), the father of the New Deal
and a new hope for Americans in the Thirties.
Friday night’s performance offers some energetic and contrary political views
by Louisiana Sen. Huey Long (Fred Krebs).
Saturday night brings evangelist Aimee Semple
McPherson (Tonia Compton) to the tent with
her spiritual zest and relief for the poor. Evening
tent performances begin at 7:30 p.m. with opening entertainment at 7 p.m.
Closing the “Bright Dreams, Hard Times,
America in the Thirties” Chautauqua week on
Sunday at 5:30 p.m., the 2008 Youth
Chautauquans from the Ride Into History Youth
Camp will recreate local history with their firstperson interpretations. The evening concludes
with the folktales, music and lively stories of
Harlem Renaissance author and folklorist Zora
Neale Hurston (Wanda Schell) at 7:30 p.m.
Will Rogers: Speaker for the “Common Man”
By Doug Watson
In the mid-1930s millions of Americans, lives
mired in hardship, poverty, and fear, turned or tuned
in to the words of one “common man” who they believed understood their plight and pain. That “common man” was Will Rogers: the nation’s highest paid,
most popular movie star whose newspaper columns
appeared daily in more than 400 papers nationwide,
whose popular radio programs drew millions of listeners, and whose personal income soared past $1
million a year. He was living a dream that began soon
after the turn of the century and continued until his
death in August 1935. Yet his words provided reassurance for many whose lives were far less “dreamy.”
Rogers was a colossal success. While he intended to do well, his success did not blind him to
the troubles of his fellow men, nor did it lead him to
deny his own common origins and allegiances. His
voice spoke for the common men; his actions supported and defended the displaced and hopeless; his
humor and his folksy remarks were thought a rare
source of wisdom—the words of a friend or kind
“uncle” who understood everyday people. His audience shared vicariously in his travels and observations, his opinions about business and political leaders. “You must never tell a joke about a little fellow,”
he said. “Always tell it on the big fellow. That’s why
they are big.”
Rogers began in Indian Territory. Born in 1879
to parents who were part Cherokee and prominent
in the community, he was the youngest child and only
boy in the family to survive to adulthood. After his
mother’s death when he was 10, he was partly reared
by three older sisters. Never “just a cowboy,” Rogers
might have followed in the steps of his rancher father
had it not been for his father’s ambitions for him and
his own discovery of a more public life.
Rogers’ schooling was incomplete. He ran away
from military school before graduation to take a job
on a Texas ranch, but later left his father’s ranch for
the adventure of world travel. In South Africa, he
joined a Wild West show, and he was never again
far from show business. From Wild West shows to
vaudeville to the Ziegfeld Follies and various stage
programs, Rogers began a movie career in 1918 that
took him to California and provided much of his income until his death. Along the way, he gained a diverse and dedicated following, not only for his acting
Will Rogers. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division.
but also for his newspaper and radio comments,
which were sometimes mere variations of his stage
gags, but often were conversations about a remarkable cast of friends and acquaintances, business leaders and politicians. He was in demand as a speakerentertainer.
By the 1930s there were many Americans who
found Rogers’ words a comfort in their despair. These
were not people who lost in the stock market crash
because they had never dreamed of owning stocks.
These were Americans who had lost their homes to
hurricanes or Mississippi River floods, their farms to
drought and price collapses, or their jobs to business and bank failures. They saw Rogers’ humor as
consolation, listened to his radio remarks for hope
as well as entertainment, and paid their 10 or 25 cents
to watch his upbeat movies and hear his “wisdom”
amid the good humor.
Rogers’ own life had become a picture of busy
satisfaction by the mid-1920s. Happily married, the
father of three children, generously paid for work he
seemed to enjoy, he found time to relax at his ranch
home outside Hollywood and entertain guests for
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dinner and polo. He often traveled around the country, and sometimes beyond the United States. His
travels provided material for magazine and book
publication (e.g. The Saturday Evening Post, “Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat”) or snapshots of places
and people for his “Daily Telegrams” in the newspapers. These offered insight into the work of Congress, ideas and programs of presidents, impressions
of foreign leaders, and opinions about history and
the weather. Taken with his observations of the political conventions from 1924-1932, they made him
an intriguing political force in an irregular time.
Rogers’ activity and production during this period was amazing. For example, between September 1930 and the end of 1931, he made four movies
for Fox, published several magazine articles in addition to the regular daily and weekly newspapers columns, did a drought relief tour of Texas, Oklahoma,
and Arkansas (more than 50 appearances in three
weeks, often four per day, collecting about $250,000
for the cause), traveled twice to Central America
(where he did programs to aid Nicaraguan earthquake victims), played an extended series of polo
matches (in one of which he broke an ankle), delivered a dozen radio talks that included his “Bacon
and Beans and Limousines” remarks for Hoover’s
Will Rogers joins in a game of horseshoes. Photo
courtesy of the Library of Congress.
role by offering diplomatic advice based only on his
travels and conversations with foreign leaders.
Rogers did not debate his critics. He continued
to speak his mind, to go about his business and address serious issues with humorous words and common sense. He continued to live honestly and generously, giving time and energy and money to help the
unfortunate, advising a community of good will and
mutual aid, discouraging American military or missionary imperialism, and urging belief in a human
potential for good. His hope for such goodness explains his most famous quip—“I never met a man I
didn’t like.” It was not a naïve faith but a belief in the
worth of every man’s “angle” that inspired such a
positive note.
For a bibilography of sources for study of Will
Rogers, visit the Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua
website at www.knchautauqua.com.
Doug Watson portrays Will Rogers.
unemployment relief program, criss-crossed the
country several times by air to appear at various dinners and conventions or visit friends and family, and
began a two-month journey through Japan, China,
Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and Europe.
Targets of Rogers’ gags in the 1930s included
presidents Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, senators
William Borah, Joe Robinson, and Huey Long, religionists Father Coughlin and Aimee Simple
McPherson, movie celebrities Douglas Fairbanks,
Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, and a range of
businessmen, social and economic prophets and
planners. Rogers said that he “joked about the all
the prominent men” of his time. But not everyone
was laughing. Though Hoover was elected on a prosperity platform, the U.S. took an economic plunge.
After the crash of the late ‘20s, widespread unemployment, continuing bank failures, and the darkening political shadow of Europe, there were serious
doubts about the viability of the American democratic
experiment. By 1932 the Republican Party lost its
leadership role to FDR and a Democratic congress.
In this climate, humor’s general power to reform
seemed inadequate; some academics and social critics
thought Rogers’ gags diverted attention from the need
for more radical political change. H. L. Mencken
called him “the most dangerous writer alive today,”
and others wondered if he had over-extended his
Will Rogers mingles with crowd holding famous rope.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Doug Watson
Doug Watson is recently retired as professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he taught poetry, American literature, Western and world civilization, children’s
literature, classical literature, and composition
from 1980 until May 2007. During the 198889 school year, he was a Fulbright lecturer in
Nigeria, West Africa.
Doug has been involved in historical characterization since 1991, traveling with the Great
Plains Chautauqua as Nathaniel Hawthorne and
Stephen Crane from 1991 to 1997. He has
performed his Will Rogers program more than
500 times nationwide since 1997—in schools,
theaters, libraries, retirement centers, and
Chautauqua series.
“Having done a pessimist and a cynic, I
have thoroughly enjoyed becoming tied to a
humorist like Will Rogers. It’s a great pleasure
to help people laugh, and it is satisfying to speak
words that seem like common sense wisdom,
even today. I know you don’t have to like the
characters you portray in Chautauqua, but when
you do, it transforms the relationship you have
with the history—and perhaps with the audi-
Page 5
ence.”
During the
past couple of
years he has
worked as education coordinator for the Will
Rogers Memorial
Doug Watson
Museums and
has presented
programs in more than 100 schools in Oklahoma.
Doug was born and reared in the Texas
panhandle, and he is at home in the small towns
of the Great Plains. He attended Baylor, West
Texas State (now Texas A&M), Middlebury
College, and Texas Tech. His wife, Kay, is a
retired public school English teacher. Their
daughter has worked for a music publisher in
San Diego for the past few years.
Doug enjoys reading, fly-fishing, gardening, and working for the international development organization World Neighbors, on whose
board he serves, but he’d almost always prefer
to be on the golf course.
FDR: Architect of the “New Deal”
By Patrick E. McGinnis
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s earliest Dutch whelmingly reelected two years later, he became
ancestor in America arrived in New York City (then a leading contender for president in 1932. DeNew Amsterdam) around 1650. Succeeding gen- spite opposition from his old mentor, former goverations prospered in land, merchandising, ship- ernor Alfred E. Smith of New York, he secured
ping and real estate. The Roosevelts, though not the nomination. After an active campaign designed
in the same league of great wealth with the to show that his illness had not immobilized him,
Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, or the Astors, were Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover by
solid members of New York’s Hudson Valley ar- a wide margin.
istocracy. On Jan. 30, 1882, FDR was born at his
Roosevelt’s victory came as the Great Defather’s estate, called Springwood, overlooking the pression entered its most desperate phase. With
Hudson River.
unemployment approaching one-third of the work
His formal education began with a succes- force, bankruptcies and bank failures wiping out
sion of tutors, followed by attendance at the ex- the savings of millions, and some people talking of
clusive Groton School, three years at Harvard— revolution, Roosevelt faced the daunting task of
where he took a degree in history—and law study alleviating widespread suffering and beginning a
at Columbia University. Although he passed the restoration of the nation’s moribund economy.
bar in 1907, he cared little about being a lawyer.
But how would he do it? Accepting the DemoHis real interest was politics, and in 1910 he was cratic presidential nomination, FDR had declared:
elected to the New York state Senate as a Demo- “I pledge you–I pledge myself–to a New Deal for
crat. Two years later he campaigned enthusiasti- the American people.” In his inaugural address,
cally for Democratic presidential nominee
he proclaimed his belief that the
Woodrow Wilson, who rewarded him
American people expected a
with appointment as ascourse of action, involving, if necsistant secretary of
essary, the use of “broad executhe Navy, a position
tive power.”
once held by his faAlthough he also exmous
cousin,
Theodore Roosevelt.
The
surname
doubtless helped him secure the Democratic
nomination for vice-president in 1920, sharing the
ticket with Ohio Gov.
James Cox. Less than a
year
after their defeat in the Harding-Coolidge
landslide, Roosevelt was stricken with infantile paralysis and nearly died. Although
the disease left him a paraplegic, some believed it actually strengthened his determination to succeed, especially in politics. This
included his wife Eleanor, a niece of the WPA (Works Progress/Work Projects Administration) worker
and his wife sit in front of their shack home on the Arkansas
former president.
With the help of Eleanor and Louis River near Webbers Falls, Okla. The man said he thought
conditions would improve when he got WPA work. “Last year I
Howe, a shrewd adviser and former jour- had a cow and some chickens,” he said. “I had to sell my cow
nalist, FDR “kept his hand in,” and in 1928 and eat my chickens. I get worse off every year.” Above are
was elected governor of New York. Over- children of WPA workers near Webber Falls.
Page 6
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Photo courtesy of
the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.
pressed a determination to remain within the
bounds of the Constitution, the most memorable
phrase in the speech was his assertion that “the
only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” essentially
no different from Hoover’s plea for a restoration
of confidence, but expressed with an energy and
purposefulness many found inspiring.
Roosevelt moved quickly. Supported by
strong Democratic majorities in the Congress, he
signed a multitude of new laws. First, an Emergency Banking Act was designed to stem a rash
of bank failures and allow sound banks to reopen
following a nationwide bank holiday he proclaimed
on his first day in office. Roosevelt used it as the
occasion for the first of 27 radio addresses, or, as
the press quickly labeled them, “fireside chats.”
By this method, FDR dramatically demonstrated
the possibilities of radio for marshalling public support for his policies, and an uncanny talent for expressing what many took as the president’s personal empathy for their problems.
The Agricultural Adjustment Administration
(AAA) was created to stop the flood of farm foreclosures and boost commodity prices. A National
Recovery Administration (NRA) set out to stimulate economic recovery through “pump-priming”
by means of public works and the institution of a
system of codes of industrial behavior, often copied verbatim from those put forward by various
trade associations in the ‘20s. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was a scheme of regional redevelopment and conservation, and the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) enrolled thousands
of idle workers—mostly young white men—to labor in the national forests and parks. The Federal
Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) largely
revamped the haphazard systems of relief inherited from the Hoover administration.
A bewildering array of these “alphabet agencies” sprang up, often by presidential directive,
with the intention of reversing the course of the
Depression and simultaneously putting in place reforms that the New Dealers hoped would lessen
the likelihood of recurrence of such disaster.
Because or in spite of these changes, the
economy did begin to recover, and by 1935 unemployment had fallen to about half what it had
been in 1933. Business profits grew and the stock
market advanced. Few were surprised when
Roosevelt was overwhelmingly reelected in 1936.
Early in the second term, however, the re-
Eleanor Roosevelt. Photo courtesy of the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Presidential Library.
covery slowed, and by late 1937 unemployment
began to mount. Although Roosevelt and the Congress brought forth several new measures, a “re-
cession” in 1938 and 1939 appeared to stifle any
further recovery. Following dramatic gains by Republicans and conservative Democrats in the 1938
congressional elections, it was clear that the New
Deal was largely over. The growing threat of war
in Europe dampened interest in further reform.
Historians disagree widely over Roosevelt’s
legacy. Conservative writers emphasize what they
see as the New Deal’s shortcomings, accompanied as it was by a major growth in size, complexity, and cost of government. On the other hand,
liberals insist that FDR’s domestic initiatives were
actually too cautious, that spending cuts begun in
1937 reversed a recovery that had barely started.
Most, however, applaud the New Deal’s social
reforms such as Social Security, labor legislation,
and conservation measures.
The debate continues unabated. Regardless
of their views, most writers agree that Franklin D.
Roosevelt was the most important American president of the 20th century.
Patrick E. McGinnis
A native of Arkansas, Patrick McGinnis
teaches at the University of Central Oklahoma
in Edmond, where he holds the rank of emeritus professor of history.
He has a bachelor of arts in history from
the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and a
master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees
from the Tulane University of Louisiana. His special areas of interest include U.S. political history, history of the American West and the history of technology.
Patrick has acted in several community theater presentations in the Oklahoma City area,
including roles in “The Fantasticks,” “Annie Get
Your Gun,” “Barefoot in the Park,” and
“Harvey.” He also appeared as Ebenezer
Scrooge in Leslie Bricusse’s “Scrooge the Musical.” For many years, he worked part-time as
a newscaster and public affairs director for raPatrick E. McGinnis portrays FDR.
Page 7
dio
station
KKNG in Oklahoma City.
For two
summers Patrick
toured with the
Great Plains
Chautauqua as
Patrick E. McGinnis
the explorer William Clark, and
presenting workshops called “Lewis and Clark,
Mapmakers,” and “What did Lewis and Clark
Eat?” He has appeared as a guest lecturer for
the Oklahoma Humanities Council and served
for three years as president of the Chopin Society of Mid-America. He also is a musician.
Patrick lives with his wife, Rita, in Edmond.
They have two daughters and two granddaughters.
Huey Long: Seeker of Power Through Populism
By Fred Krebs
Huey Long (1893-1935) was a comet flashing over the cultural, social, political, and economic
landscape of the United States during the 1920s
and the 1930s. He proclaimed that he would shine
a light on the lives of the rural poor in Louisiana,
and then he included all the poor in the nation. He
promised to take the power of government from
the hands of the wealthy and make government
the servant of the poor, starting with “the sharing
of wealth.” He contacted and contracted with these
“forgotten and voiceless millions” through the innovations of radio broadcasting of speeches and
movie newsreels and the old-fashion institution of
camp-meeting oratory.
He was the “Kingfish,” a deliverer of hope
for the future and salvation from the despair of
poverty. His meteoric journey through the American consciousness left streams of populist literature, folk music, films, and visual arts, and Huey
Long became the icon for the political demagogue.
To Long, government functioned only as a
tool for personal power. His major concern was
what the government could do to win the support
of a supermajority of the voters. Long did not want
to rule with only a plurality or a thin majority.
Moreover, he knew how to bring in new votes from
voters who were denied the vote or who found
voting either difficult or of little interest. To do this,
he worked to repeal poll taxes and literacy tests.
This expanded the electorate to include rural, poor
white voters who represented 60 percent of the
voters in northern Louisiana.
From his first statewide election victory at
the age of 25 as a member of the Railroad Commission in 1918, Long appealed to the rural poor
as the heart of a supermajority. The Railroad
Commission’s powers were expanded over the
next six years to include the regulation of roads,
bridges, and utilities. As chairman, Long primarily
targeted Standard Oil with all aspects of these
powers.
Long portrayed big corporations and rich
businessmen as “enemies of the people.” He
wanted the tax burden to be on the wealthy, who
he said ignored the needs of the rural poor. In his
campaign for governor in 1924, he proposed the
regulation of Standard Oil, distribution of free
Huey Long. Photo courtesy of the Louisiana State
Museum.
school textbooks, the construction of more tollfree farm roads and bridges, more schools in rural
areas, and increased penalties for railroad rate violations. Long lost the race, but was re-elected to
the Railroad Commission. “I have perfected my
system for victory,” he boasted.
Finally elected governor in 1928, Long transformed the powers of Louisiana state government
toward government services, taxation of corporations like Standard Oil, and expansion of public
works jobs on road and bridge construction.
Long came from Winn Parish (county) in
northern Louisiana, a parish that between 1890
and 1920 had supported presidential candidates
of the Populist, Socialist, and Greenback parties.
Long built support in rural Louisiana with free
school textbooks; adult literacy centers; the creation of more than 10,000 jobs in the construction of farm roads, bridges, and highways in rural
areas; and hospital and health clinic construction.
Page 8
Robert Penn Warren’s novel “All the King’s Men” is a
thinly veiled account of Huey Long’s political rise and
fall.
Long also established a medical school at Louisiana State University where students from rural
areas could afford the tuition. These programs
benefited Long’s power, influence, control of patronage and contracts, and finances. He never felt
that the New Deal was enough. His answer was
the Share the Wealth initiative, along with public
works, education, and health care programs modeled after his successes in Louisiana.
One of Long’s major innovations was his approach to campaigns, elections, and governing.
Again the ends were not ideological, but functional—to hold and expand power. He built power
with leaflets and speeches in front of large crowds.
He soon learned the value of broadcasting his
speeches on the radio in order to expand and inspire enthusiasm among his supporters, even when
the legislature was seeking his impeachment. His
orations were full of religious references and images, along with numerous quotes from the Bible.
ral poor of Louisiana. Political programs like free
textbooks, farm roads, and heavy corporate taxation peaked and ebbed before World War II.
Populist leaders like Hattie Carraway, Gerald
Windrod, and J.R.R. Brinkley faded to obscurity.
Populism endured because Huey Long gave a
voice and empowerment to the despair of the poor.
Folk songs and films, paintings, poems and novels
expressed the strident, angry cry for economic and
social justice first voiced by Long in establishing
healthcare, advocating the redistribution of wealth
and creating educational opportunities for the poor.
His populist legacy took on mythic proportions
through the new populist voices in visual arts,
music, and literature.
Huey Long, the “Kingfish” of Louisiana politics. Photo
courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Fred Krebs portrays Huey Long.
Fred Krebs
Although Long’s actions showed few of the values of his Baptist upbringing, he often portrayed
himself as a savior under attack by the evil forces
of Standard Oil, corrupt and reactionary politicians, and plutocrats like J.P. Morgan. After Long
was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930, he hired
production crews to make newsreels to advance
his Share the Wealth ideas and to gain national
support for a presidential campaign in 1936 or
1940.
Long’s political impact is the subject of great
debate. He brought a voice to the poor and rural
population of Louisiana. There were improvements
in health care, education, infrastructure, and political participation by rural citizens and those living in poverty, and government took on a more
active social responsibility. But his programs came
with a high price tag—brutality, graft and corruption, quantity over quality, loss of democratic processes, and suppression of dissent. Although he
never supported the Ku Klux Klan, Long also
never sought relief or reform for African-American citizens or other minorities. To many people,
however, he represented light in the darkness, hope
over despair, and a new vision of justice.
The importance and legacy of Huey Long
emerged in the form of a revival of populism that
continues into the present. Long abolished poll
taxes, expanded literacy and enfranchised the ru-
Fredrick A. Krebs has been a professor
in the social sciences and humanities division at
the Johnson County Community College in
Overland Park, Kan., for 39 years. He currently
teaches courses in Eastern civilization, world
history, and a two-semester readings and discussion course in Western civilization. He has
also taught American history, Kansas history, and
survey courses in humanities, philosophy, political science, anthropology, and American government.
Fred is a prolific public speaker on subjects ranging from Dead Sea Scrolls, women in
American history, African-American history,
leadership and community, foreign policy, arts
and literature, and film studies. He has been
active with the Kansas Humanities Council for
nearly 30 years and currently presents for the
Speakers Bureau, TALK discussions, and History Alive.
He started Chautauqua presentations as
William Allen White in the 1985 Great Plains
Chautauqua and in the same year began presentations as Benjamin Franklin. He now pre-
Page 9
sents some 16 characters including William Mulholland, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Carl
Sandburg, William
Jennings Bryan, Thomas Edison, Galileo,
Kit Carson, President
Rutherford B. Hayes,
Stephen Douglas, and
L. Frank Baum. He
has given presentaFred Krebs
tions in 22 states and
also works to help the development of
Chautauqua programs. Most recently, Krebs
portrayed William Allen White in the 2007 “Famous Kansans” Chautauqua and William
Jennings Bryan in the 2007 Nebraska
Chautauqua, “Visions for America: Notable Nebraska Reformers.”
Fred has also been active in community
affairs as a scoutmaster, Red Cross volunteer in
first aid and water safety, and as a district governor for Rotary International.
Cultivating an understanding of our history and culture...for 35 years!
NEBRASKA
HUMANITIES
COUNCIL
Offering
Nebraskans
quality public
humanities
programs for
all ages
Prime Time
Family Reading Time
Kent Haruf
Nebraska Book Festival
“Plains Writers, Great Readers”
Six-week reading and discussion
program serving families with children
ages six to 10. Encourages active
public library use.
Celebrates Nebraska’s literary heritage, our
talented writers, and books of all kinds, Oct.
17-18 in Lincoln. Noted author Kent Haruf
is the keynote speaker.
Kansas-Nebraska
Chautauqua
“Bright Dreams, Hard Times:
America in the Thirties”
The Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua
is funded in part by the “We the
People” initiative of the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
This summer program brings historical
figures to life and provides five days of
educational entertainment.
Page 10
13th Annual
Join our family of donors
Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities
The Nebraska Humanities Council funded
programs in 144 Nebraska communities last
year thanks to generous contributions from
citizens like you across the state. If you are
interested in making a gift to the council, mail
it to the address below, visit the “Ways to
Give” page of our website or stop by our
information table at the Chautauqua to pick
up an envelope.
David Gergen
“Eyewitness to Power: Leadership in America”
Sept. 18, 2008, at the
Lied Center for Performing Arts
in Lincoln
Presidential advisor,
Harvard professor and author
David Gergen
Capitol Forum
High school students
study and discuss U.S.
foreign policy.
Museum on Main Street
“New Harmonies”
Smithsonian exhibition celebrating
American roots music travels to six
Nebraska sites from March through
December 2009.
Culminates in a forum at
the State Capitol, where
students have
the opportunity
to question state and
national elected officials
about a range
of issues.
Nebraska Humanities Council
215 Centennial Mall South
Suite #330
Lincoln, NE 68508
Phone: 402-474-2131
FAX: 402-474-4852
Email: nhc@nebraskahumanities.org
Visit the NHC on the web!
www.nebraskahumanities.org
Grants Program
Available to any nonprofit
group for public humanities
programs and projects.
Humanities Resource Center
Speakers Bureau
Humanities Desk on Public Radio
200 speakers and 300 programs
from which to choose, including
“Notable Nebraskans,” plus:
• Cultural encounter trunks
• Videotapes and exhibits
Nebraska State
Poet Bill Kloefkorn • Books for discussion
Listeners statewide can enjoy humanities
features throughout the broadcast week on
NET Radio and Omaha Public Radio,
continuing a collaboration that began in 1991.
The Nebraska Cultural Endowment is pleased to be a partner with the Nebraska Humanities Council and Nebraska
Arts Council in ensuring a lasting legacy of arts and humanities programs for all Nebraskans. Congratulations to the
NHC for its 2008 Chautauqua season and best wishes to volunteers in Falls City and Hastings for making it possible.
For details on how you can become a partner in Nebraska’s cultural future, contact us at 402-595-2722 or
info@nebraskaculturalendowment.org
Page 11
Aimee Semple McPherson: Evangelism in Action
By Tonia M. Compton
Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944)
was a product of the Canadian Plains and the deep
religious conviction of her mother, Minnie.
McPherson’s girlhood in Canada shaped her first
religious leanings, a brief period of rebellion, and
her later adherence to the Pentecostal movement
that swept the United States and Canada in the
early 20th century. By the 1930s, McPherson had
become a household name, known for her healing
powers, evangelistic crusades, and her supposed
kidnapping in 1926. McPherson generated a deep
loyalty among the men and women who followed
her religious teachings across the country and at
Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. Her movement
through American culture also carried in its wake
a legacy of turmoil and controversy that hounded
her in the press and the courts from the 1920s
until her death.
Aimee Semple McPherson was born Aimee
Kennedy in Ontario, Canada, in 1890. Her
mother, Minnie Kennedy, was a devout follower
of the Salvation Army, and prior to McPherson’s
birth had prayed for a daughter whom she could
consecrate to the service of God. Her childhood
was spent on her father’s farm in rural Ontario,
and was typical for girls of the time. She attended
school and church, and became a well-known performer in church pageants and plays. In her teen
years, she embarked upon a period of religious
questioning, writing an editorial about Darwinism,
Aimee Semple McPherson. Photo courtesy of the
Library of Congress.
and engaging in debates that challenged her religious upbringing. In 1908 McPherson’s questioning changed to acceptance of the Pentecostal
movement in North America, a belief she first encountered in the ministry of Irish evangelist Robert Semple. She and Semple married in August
1908 and spent time in ministry in Chicago before
embarking as missionaries to
China in 1909. The following year,
she returned to the United States
after being widowed and giving
birth to her first child, Roberta.
She lived for a time with her
mother in New York before setting out on her own evangelistic
campaign in 1911.
In 1912, she married her
second husband, Harold
McPherson, and set up a household in Rhode Island. Soon after,
she gave birth to the couple’s son,
ard Co., Los
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geles, Calif.
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Page 12
again began her evangelistic work, which she was
engaged in full time by 1915. From then until 1921,
she traveled the country, sometimes with her husband and children, setting up tents and conducting evangelistic crusades that drew thousands of
attendees. Eventually Minnie began managing her
daughter’s schedule, shifting the crusades from
tents to arenas. In 1920 McPherson and her children settled in Los Angeles with her mother, and
began the work of building a permanent church.
Angelus Temple opened in 1923, the result of her
tireless campaigning and her mother’s efficient
management of their resources and donations.
McPherson conducted her evangelistic work
from her home base in Los Angeles, expanding
Angelus Temple to include a Bible college, a radio
station, and ultimately a formal denomination,
called the Foursquare Gospel Churches, which
spread across the country. In a strange turn of
events, McPherson was reportedly abducted
while at the beach in 1926 and was missing for a
period of four weeks. In the wake of her return,
rumors abounded that she had simply left on a secret lovers’ rendezvous with a former Temple employee. The discrepancies in her story soon led to
a series of investigations and charges brought by
a grand jury, though she was never convicted. The
negative publicity from these trials, however, inspired her to undertake a national tour to defend
her name and work. She called it the “Vindication
Tour” of 1927.
When the American economy collapsed in
1929, McPherson’s efforts to bring relief to those
devastated by the Great Depression marked the
first wide-scale efforts of an organized religious
group to coordinate relief efforts with the federal
government. McPherson and Angelus Temple had
long been involved in community aid programs,
including sending supplies and workers to help the
victims of the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake; in
fact, McPherson’s teams arrived ahead of the Red
Cross. Currently, church involvement in federal relief efforts is seen as normal, due mainly to
McPherson’s work to provide help that both established the practice and challenged the complexity of the federal system.
Angelus Temple was able to provide relief to
thousands of families across the Los Angeles area
without the limitations of bureaucratic red tape and
racial profiling common to federal relief. African
American and Hispanic families received aid from
Angelus Temple when they were often denied access to these federal programs. McPherson’s efforts in this area demonstrate her vision of a practical religion that required action of its adherents,
as well as her open beliefs that did not exclude
persons because of the color of their skin or the
language they spoke.
As the decade progressed, McPherson directed much of her energy to a second effort, understanding and publicizing the unstable international community. McPherson’s world tour in 1935
provided her a rare clarity about world politics
which she attempted to share with American audiences in the late 1930s and which inspired her
book, “Give Me My Own God.” McPherson’s
prophetic sermons warned against the dangers rising in Europe—Mussolini and Hitler—but were
largely ignored by most Americans.
McPherson’s work as an evangelist and pastor were of key importance to America in the
1930s, in part for her pioneering works. In addition to rare racial openness, McPherson also became among the first to utilize the new modern
medium of the radio to reach mass audiences.
Angelus Temple boasted its own broadcasting sig-
nal, which McPherson used for her own religious
purposes and also to serve the public good. Thus
she brought together Americans of all backgrounds, both in the public arena of her evangelistic crusades as well as across the waves of radio
technology, following the very trend of
Pentecostalism which served as a democratizing
force in American religion.
Evidence of that democratization lies in
McPherson herself. Her role as the builder and
leader of a major religious organization challenged
traditional gender barriers long associated with
Christian denominations. McPherson continued to
support female church leadership, training women
at the Bible college which was a part of Angelus
Temple, and encouraging women to become leaders in their local churches. For America in the
1930s, McPherson’s charisma, utter religious conviction, and sense of humor sustained her ability
to charm diverse audiences, inspire deep loyalties
and generate national controversies, establishing
new standards of practice for church aid to those
most in need, ignoring the deep racial divisions that
often marred relief efforts, and creating new
spaces of religious leadership for women.
Tonia M. Compton
Tonia M. Compton is a history doctoral
candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds a master’s degree from Texas
A & M University. Her scholarship brought
her the University of Nebraska Presidential
Fellowship (2007-08); a Huntington Library
W.M. Keck Foundation Fellowship (2006);
the University of Nebraska department of history Stover Fellowship (2004); and the Alpha Chi H.Y. Benedict Fellowship (1999).
Her research interests include women’s history, the American West, marriage, 19th century society and culture, as well as American
religion and politics.
Compton has been published numerous
times, including multiple pieces in “Colonial
America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History,” and
articles in both the “Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellions” and “African American National Biography.” Her most recent
work is an article entitled, “American Harems: Mormons as Racial Other in NineteenthCentury Rhetoric,” published in the fall 2007
Alpha Chi Recorder. She has presented her
research at conferences across the country
on topics such as race, marriage, politics, and
society. In recognition of her work, Compton
has received a number of awards for her quality research, including the University of Nebraska department of history Dov Ospovat
award for outstanding research paper (2005),
and travel awards from the Newberry Library
Tonia M. Compton portrays Aimee Semple McPherson.
Page 13
Consortium
(2004, 2005) and
the University of
Nebraska department of history
(2004, 2005,
2006, 2007).
Since 2003
Compton has assisted in multifacTonia M. Compton
eted graduate research through the University of NebraskaLincoln, including work as a research assistant for the digital history project entitled “The
Mountain Meadows Massacre in Public Discourse.” As a teaching assistant for the history departments at both the University of Nebraska and Texas A&M, she has taught a wide
range of subjects, including African culture and
civilization, ancient Greece and Rome, American and world history, and American Indian
history.
From 2003-2006 Compton portrayed
Dolley Madison in the role of moderator, in
the Great Plains Chautauqua, “From Sea to
Shining Sea: American Expansion and Cultural Change, 1790-1850.”
Compton currently resides in Marshall,
Mo., where she is working to finish her doctoral dissertation. She is currently serving as
president of the National Association of
Graduate-Professional Students.
Zora Neale Hurston: “Wrasslin’ up a Future”
By Wanda Schell
The Twenties were a golden era for AfricanAmerican artists and intellectuals living in New York
City. The period known as the Harlem Renaissance
witnessed an upsurge of creativity among AfricanAmerican writers, artists and scholars who were
drawn to Harlem from all over the United States
and foreign countries by this artistic revolution.
Among the more famous of these artists was
Zora Neale Hurston—novelist, folklorist and anthropologist. Hurston grew up in the all-Negro town
of Eatonville, Fla. At the age of nine, her mother
died and her life changed drastically. Her mother’s
death left Hurston with $1.50 in her pocket and a
cardboard suitcase with a change of underclothes
and one dress. Yet she was filled with her mother’s
hope and strong beliefs about education.
After attending school at Howard University
in Washington, D.C., she became the first AfricanAmerican to graduate from Barnard College. It soon
became clear that she was not like anyone else. With
a style of her own, Hurston went against every con-
Wanda Schell portrays Zora Neale Hurston.
Zora Neale Hurston and three boys in Eatonville, Fla.
Photo taken during Lomax-Hurston-Barnicle recording
expedition to Georgia, Florida, and the Bahamas,
about 1935. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
vention of the times.
Hurston came to New York City in 1925 and
was involved in one of the most influential groups
of African-American artists in Harlem. She became
close to poet Langston Hughes, another well-known
member of this group.
She and Hughes also shared the same financial patron. Mrs. Charlotte Osgood Mason was a
wealthy, white philanthropist who supported the
work of several artists during the Harlem Renaissance. She demanded that she authorize all work
done by her artists. She felt that Hurston in particular could not be trusted to know what best to do
with her work.
Hurston signed her contract with “Godmother”
Mason on Dec. 8, 1927, to go down south to collect and compile music, dances, literature, hoodoo
rituals, art, children’s games and all other folk material of the Southern Negro. Hurston realized how
greatly folklore had influenced her life, and she eagerly seized an opportunity to go back to the South
and collect the stories she had heard as a child.
Hurston and “Sassy Susie” (her Model T Ford)
traveled back and forth from Florida to New York.
Mrs. Mason insisted that Hurston bring some materials to her in person. Hurston did not mind; she
missed her friends in New York and as time went
on she became more concerned for them and her
Page 14
Zora Neale Hurston. Photo courtesy of the Library of
Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Carl Van
Vechten Collection.
beloved Harlem.
By 1930, Harlem was becoming a slum and
one of the most crowded areas of the country.
People continued to migrate from the South hoping
for a better life. After a disagreement with Hughes
and the deterioration of Harlem, Hurston fell into a
sadness she had not felt since the death of her
mother. The Great Depression did away with everything for the African-American artist. Money for
research, foundations grants, awards and prizes
were no longer available.
Black unemployment was three times higher
than that of whites because jobs were more likely
to be given to a white man during the Depression.
African-American women lined the streets of
Harlem, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn hoping for a day of domestic work, even sometimes
for as little as carfare and food.
Returning to Eatonville, Hurston was some- ers to open up the way Hurston could. They were
what isolated from the harsh realities that many of able to get the recording equipment they needed
her other artist friends were facing in New York. only because of a report to Washington that Hurston
With the modest check she still rewrote, which outlined Florida into
ceived monthly from Mrs. Mason,
four major areas to record work
she was able to rent a small house
songs, folktales and stories from
for a modest sum. Everyone in
Bahamians, Haitians, Latinos, and
Eatonville raised a garden and
Greeks.
there were plenty of fish and other
While waiting for the equipsmall animals to hunt. The all-Nement, Hurston was sent to a small
gro town, incorporated in 1896,
turpentine camp in Cross City, Fla.
always believed in taking care of
Before the rest of the crew arits own. The residents didn’t have
rived, the laborers told her that
much, but what they did have they
they were being tortured, beaten,
believed in sharing with one anraped and a few had been murother.
dered and buried under the ceDuring the Thirties, Hurston
ment.
wrote and published the majority of
When the crew finally caught
her work, including “Jonah’s Gourd
up to her, Hurston told them what
Zora Neale Hurston. Photo
courtesy of Library of Congress.
Vine,” “Their Eyes Were Watching
was happening there. They told her
God,” and her first book of
that although they felt for the
folktales, “Mules and Men,” which was published in workers, there was little they could do, as they were
1935. In the spring of 1938, she was asked to join folklorists and not government agents. Hurston was
the WPA (Work Progress Administration), which a sign of hope for these people. She was one of
provided work for the unemployed, including writ- them. When she heard there would be no help for
ers and scholars through the Federal Writers Project.
Through the WPA, Hurston was invited to
work on the Henry Alsberg American Guide Series. The series was a set of guidebooks about the
48 states and two territories. Separate Negro units
were established in Florida, Louisiana, and Virginia
for African-American writers.
Most of the Florida staff had a background in
Wanda Schell is an accomplished actress
journalism. Some had worked on small newspaand writer who holds degrees in liberal arts and
pers, but no one had Hurston’s credentials. She had
theatre from the Community College of Rhode
three published books and two Guggenheim FelIsland, Rhode Island College, and has pursued
lowships. Still, she was not given an editorial posigraduate work at the Trinity Repertoire Contion and was paid less than the white junior editor.
servatory. Considered a creative ball of energy,
Hurston did not complain. She received a
she is also a published playwright, singer, storysteady paycheck, and she came and went as she
teller, director, and founder of Drama is Life
pleased. She continued to work on her art, proProductions Inc., an educational theatre comducing a group of dancers and singers called
pany committed to educating both children and
“Chanters,” who performed at the National Folk
adults about social issues and cultural topics
Festival. Her group was so good that she was able
through live theatre, video and workshops.
to raise enough money to take them to WashingHaving grown up in urban Philadelphia
ton, D.C.
with distinct roots in civil rights activities and a
Hurston wrote several pieces for “The Florida
keen sensitivity to social issues which plague
Negro” guide, including an essay titled “Go Gator
urban environments, Schell has committed herand Muddy the Water,” an article called “The Pet
self for the past 15 years to teaching young
Negro System” and several others. Unfortunately,
people about such topics as alcohol and drug
most of her work was cut from the guide.
abuse, teen pregnancy, prejudice, AIDS, and
She was also asked to go out in the field and
conflict resolution via theatre and video. Under
record stories and songs with Alan Lomax and Mary
her direction, Schell’s programs have toured
Elizabeth Barnicle. Lomax and Barnicle knew that
they would not be able to get the turpentine work-
them, she packed her belongings. On Aug. 11,
1939, Hurston said goodbye to the Federal Writers Project.
Soon after, the project closed its doors. It was
unfortunate that many of Hurston’s writings were
not included in the American Guide Series for
Florida, although they were published after she died.
In 1999, Pamela Bordeleon gathered all of the
material Hurston collected and compiled it into a
book called “Go Gator and Muddy the Water,”
named after her earlier article.
We owe much to scholars like Zora Neale
Hurston for understanding the importance of preserving all of our histories. She traveled alone in
dangerous places and braved horrific living conditions to document the southern Negro’s rich folkloric traditions for generations to come. Despite all
of her accomplishments, this brave and brilliant
woman died alone on Jan. 28, 1960, in the Saint
Lucie County Welfare Home in Fort Pierce, Fla.
Wanda Schell
Page 15
schools, colleges,
community centers,
and civic groups
throughout six states.
In recent years,
Schell has produced
a cable television
anti-drug soap opera; a conflict resolution video with her
Wanda Schell
son, Angelo; and is
currently working on a video for the Frederick
Division of Substance Abuse.
In addition to her signature Zora Neale
Hurston performances and other historical figures, Schell portrays jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, incorporating her musical talents to complete the portrayal. She lives in Hagerstown,
Md., and is the mother of two children. When
she is not writing or acting, Schell enjoys spending
time spoiling her grandchildren.
Scholar workshops
“Role of Political Satire and Commentary”
Presented by Doug Watson
During the 1930s, political cartoons, radio programs, newspaper articles and films mirrored, and
sometimes exaggerated, how Americans responded
to political and religious leaders. This workshop will
use examples of Will Rogers’ work from the 1920s
and 1930s to discuss the continuing role of humor as
a response to today’s world.
“Will Rogers: Film and American Society”
Presented by Doug Watson
From 1929-1935, Will Rogers made 21 “talkies.” These movies, filled with Rogers’ trademark wit,
wisdom, and an optimistic vision of American society, were extremely popular. They also provide insight into social topics from the time period such as
new wealth, rural distress, political and economic
corruption. This workshop examines how Rogers’
movies informed Americans about complex issues.
Can the same be said about today’s movies?
“Agriculture Then and Now”
Presented by Patrick McGinnis
Today’s family farm looks much different from
the farms of our grandparents and great-grandparents. During the 1930s, New Deal farm policies
changed traditional farming practices and the role of
government in agriculture. This workshop will examine why these policies were introduced and how
they affected rural communities.
“What Do Historians Say?”
Presented by Patrick McGinnis
In 1932 during his presidential campaign,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt introduced his New Deal
ideas. Historians differ on the interpretation of the
impact and legacy of these relief programs. This
workshop will explore many interpretations and give
participants the opportunity to discuss how the image of FDR changes with the perspective presented.
“Crisis and the Role of the Demagogue”
Presented by Fred Krebs
A demagogue can be defined as a leader who
champions the cause of the common people or a
leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false
claims and promises in order to gain power. So, was
The 2008 Chautauqua scholars are (from left) Doug Watson as Will Rogers, Wanda Schell as Zora Neale Hurston,
Tonia M. Compton as Aimee Semple McPherson, Fred Krebs as Huey Long and Patrick McGinnis as Franklin
Delano Roosevelt.
Huey Long a demagogue? Participants in this workshop will consider what leadership meant to politician Huey Long. Clips will be shown of Robert
Rossen’s 1949 film “All the King’s Men,” a fictional
account of Long’s life based on the novel by Robert
Penn Warren.
used radio as a new way to reach the American public
and this workshop will include samples of popular
shows. Workshop participants will analyze radio’s
impact on cultural, political, and social changes of
the 1930s. How does today’s technology influence
American society?
“Huey Long and State Innovation”
Presented by Fred Krebs
Huey Long was innovative in his approach as
Governor of Louisiana from 1928-1932. He worked
to create laws that would make life easier and more
equitable for the people. This workshop will examine Long’s work as a reformer in his home state. How
did his ideas effect change in Louisiana and the nation?
“Floods, FEMA & the Faithful: Religious
Organizations’ Relief Efforts in the Wake of
Disasters”
Presented by Tonia Compton
This workshop will examine the development
of religious groups’ work providing relief efforts to
people across the United States when natural or manmade disasters wreak havoc on human habitation.
From the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina to
disasters in the early 20th century like the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, victims and government
agencies have increasingly come to rely on private
efforts by religious organizations to provide aid. This
workshop will consider the development of this trend
and look at how churches and other religious groups
“Radio in the Thirties”
Presented by Tonia Compton
Radio in the 1930s changed the ways Americans learned about the world around. FDR, Huey
Long, Will Rogers, and Aimee Semple McPherson
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responded to the Depression and the Dust Bowl on
the Great Plains.
“Go Gator and Muddy the Water”
Presented by Wanda Schell
Zora Neale Hurston wrote for the Federal
Writer’s Project during the 1930s, collecting folklore as well as other stories. In this workshop, participants will compare Kansas and Nebraska folklore, myths, and rituals to that of Florida collected
by Hurston and its importance both then and now.
Additionally, participants will explore healing rituals,
songs, and children’s games from Hurston’s writing
and how some of the more controversial themes were
received by her contemporaries.
“Dust Bowl” exhibit
In the 1930s, the Farm Security Administration
(FSA) photographed the faces and landscape of
the Dust Bowl. Forty years later, Nebraska
photographer Bill Ganzel found and re-photographed the survivors for a book and exhibition.
The “Dust Bowl” exhibit, from Humanities Texas,
combines the FSA photographs with Ganzel’s
photographs to tell a story of strength and
triumph in the face of despair.
Youth workshops
Chautauqua offers a variety of youth programs
to engage participants in the history of the 1930s and
of their local community. All youth programs are free,
but registration may be required.
“Making Murals with Folktales:
How Butterflies Were Made”
(For children ages 8 and older)
Presented by Wanda Schell
Zora Neale Hurston compiled folktales for the
Works Progress Administration (WPA) from her
home state of Florida. One folktale tells how the
colorful butterflies were created to keep the flowers
company and how they came to be called butterflies. In this workshop, children will listen to the vibrant story told by “Zora” and will then talk about
Ann Birney of Ride Into History (holding globe) will present Youth Chautauqua Camp along with
Joyce Thierer.
the tale and compare it to the world they live in today. They will create a mural based on the images in
the folktale and related images from their own experiences. The mural will be photographed and displayed on the Chautauqua website.
Youth Chautauqua Camp
(For children grades 4 through 8)
Registration required
Presented by Ann Birney and Joyce Thierer of
Ride Into History
Youth Chautauqua Camp provides students
4th-8th grades the opportunity to become historians, researchers, scriptwriters, and actors. The fiveday camp allows participants to identify and research
a local historical figure of the 1930s and portray that
person under the tent on the final evening of
Chautauqua. The camp allows participants to uncover fascinating local stories and learn valuable research and performance skills in the process.
“Dear Eleanor, Dear Laura”
(For ages 8 and up)
Presented by community volunteers
If you could write a letter to the First Lady of
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the United States, what would you write? During the
Great Depression of the 1930s, children from all over
the country sent letters to First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt. In the letters, children asked Mrs.
Roosevelt for everything from a pair of roller skates
to food for their family. Participants in this workshop
will become historians-in-training as they research
the letters and learn about the 1930s. At the end of
the workshop, they will write a letter to First Lady
Laura Bush.
“Iconic Images”
(For grades 9–12)
Registration required
Thirties photographers, like Dorothea Lange,
captured the hardship and despair of the Great Depression in images that are still powerful today. In
this workshop, aspiring photographers will have the
opportunity to study historic local images from the
1930s and to create their own images of contemporary life. Cameras are provided.
Schedule of Events
“Bright Dreams, Hard Times,” July 2-6, 2008
Chautauqua Pavilion, Chautauqua Park, 2219 W. Fifth St., Hastings, Neb.
Wednesday, July 2
In the event of bad weather, performances will be
held Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at the
City Auditorium, 400 N. Hastings St.; Friday and
Saturday programs will be held at the Masonic
Temple, 411 N. Hastings St. All evening programs
are moderated by Will Rogers, portrayed by Doug
Watson. All events are free and open to the
public, unless otherwise indicated by ($). For
more information contact the Adams County
Convention and Visitors Bureau at
kaleema@VisitHastingsNebraska.com or visit
www.knchautauqua.org.
1 p.m. High school workshop, “Iconic Images,” Hastings
College Gray Center, 12th Street and Elm Avenue
6 p.m. Meet the Chautauquans ice cream social, dedication of historic plaque, Chautauqua Pavilion,
Fifth Street and Barnes Avenue
Thursday, July 3
9 a.m.-5 p.m. “Dust Bowl” exhibit and tri-county display, Hastings Public Library, 517 W. Fourth
St.
5:30-7:30 p.m. Concessions, Chautauqua Pavilion ($)
10:30 a.m. Adult workshop, Tonia Compton, “Floods,
FEMA and the Faithful: Religious Organizations’ Relief Efforts in the Wake of Disasters,”
Hastings Police Station, 317 S. Burlington Ave.
7-7:30 p.m. Local entertainment, Chautauqua Pavilion
1 p.m. Adult workshop, Doug Watson, “Will Rogers:
Film and American Society,” Hastings Police
Station, 317 S. Burlington Ave.
9:45 p.m. Fireworks display by Hastings Volunteer Fire
Department, Brickyard Park, D Street
and Woodland Avene
3 p.m. Adult workshop, Fred Krebs, “Huey Long and
State Innovation,” Hastings Police Station, 317
S. Burlington Ave.
Saturday, July 5
7:30 p.m. An evening with Huey Long (Fred Krebs),
Chautauqua Pavilion
7:30 p.m. An evening with Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(Patrick McGinnis), Chautauqua Pavilion
Friday, July 4
10 a.m. YWCA July 4 Celebration and Children’s Parade, Fisher Fountain
11 a.m. Adult workshop, Fred Krebs, “Crisis and the
Role of the Demagogue,” Hastings Utilities
Board Room, 1228 N. Denver Ave., west entrance
1 p.m. Adult workshop, Patrick McGinnis, “What Do
Historians Say?,” Hastings Utilities Board
Room, 1228 N. Denver Ave., west entrance
3 p.m. Adult workshop, Tonia Compton, “Radio in the
Thirties,” Hastings Utilities Board Room, 1228
N. Denver Ave., west entrance
5:30-7:30 p.m. Concessions, Chautauqua Pavilion, Fifth
Street and Barnes Avenue ($)
7-7:30 p.m. Local entertainment, Chautauqua Pavilion
7:30 p.m. An evening with Aimee Semple McPherson
(Tonia Compton), Chautauqua Pavilion
9 a.m. Breakfast with the scholars, Hastings Public
Library, 517 W. Fourth St.
Sunday, July 6
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Youth camp, “Ride Into History,” Hastings
Museum, 14th Street and Burlington Avenue
12 p.m.-5 p.m. Display of 1930s hats, quilts, dishes
and more, Adams County YWCA, 604 N. St.
Joseph Ave.
9 a.m.-5 p.m. “Dust Bowl” exhibit and tri-county irrigation project display, Hastings Public Library,
517 W. Fourth St.
12 p.m. Adult workshop, Wanda Schell, “Go Gator and
Muddy the Water,” Adams County YWCA, 604
N. St. Joseph Ave.
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Local tours of Historic Hastings,
Hastings Public Library, 517 W. Fourth St.
1-5:30 p.m. Youth camp, “Ride Into History,”
Chautauqua Pavilion
10 a.m.-6 p.m. 1930s farm equipment display,
Chautauqua Park
3 p.m. Adult workshop, Doug Watson, “Role of Political Satire and Commentary,” Adams County
YWCA, 604 N. St. Joseph Ave.
5:30-7:30 p.m. Concessions, Chautauqua Pavilion ($)
7-7:30 p.m. Doug Watson as Will Rogers, Chautauqua
Pavilion
2:30 p.m. Youth workshop, “Dear Eleanor, Dear Laura,”
Hastings Public Library, 517 W. Fourth St.
10:30 a.m. Adult workshop, Patrick McGinnis, “Agriculture Then and Now,” Chautauqua Pavilion
1 p.m. High school workshop, “Iconic Images,” Hastings
College Gray Center, 12th Street and Elm Avenue
1 p.m. Youth workshop, Wanda Schell, “Making Murals with Folktales: How Butterflies Were
Made,” Hastings Public Library, 517 W. Fourth
St.
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2-5:30 p.m. 1930s vintage car show, Chautauqua Park
5:30 p.m. Youth Chautauqua performance, “Ride Into
History,” Chautauqua Pavilion
7:30 p.m. An evening with Zora Neale Hurston (Wanda
Schell), Chautauqua Pavilion
The history of Chautauqua in Nebraska
Traveling Chautauquas in the late 19th and early
20th centuries brought the world to rural communities
in Nebraska.
Chautauqua combined programs of political oratory and lectures about health, science, and the humanities with entertainment, such as opera singers and stage
performances of Shakespeare. Audiences heard about
national issues and discussed their views with their neighbors. For many rural Nebraskans, Chautauqua week
was the most important week of the year.
Chautauquas started as a result of the national Lyceum Bureau that served the Plains before 1900. On
June 26, 1883, the first Chautauqua program in Nebraska opened in Crete. In 1884 the Crete Chautauqua
Association acquired 109 acres along the Blue River
and by the summer of 1885 had two lecture halls and a
dining hall built, 700 trees set out, and a bridge installed.
Trains brought culture-hungry participants from
Wymore, Lincoln, and Hastings, and one delegation
came all the way from Chadron to live in the tent city to
hear the 10-day series of inspirational lectures, lanternslide illustrated travelogues, and musical concerts. One
day in 1888, 16,000 people streamed into the campgrounds. The Crete Chautauqua was considered the
greatest conference in the Missouri Valley.
The success of the Crete Chautauquas encouraged businessmen in Beatrice to start a similar enterprise, and on June 28, 1889, the first Beatrice
Chautauqua opened at its new Chautauqua Park that
had been equipped with an amphitheatre, band stand,
and boat houses. Other Chautauqua programs sprang
up across the state. Chautauqua’s tent cities blossomed
for weeklong periods in the summer. Not only campers, but also hundreds of families drove in by day returning home to farm chores by night.
Then at the turn of the 20th century, Chautauqua
circuits were created. National Chautauqua promoters
would roll into town, put up a big, canvas tent, and
overnight towns would be transformed into bustling cultural centers. Tent cities still appeared, but the
Chautauqua circuits emphasized entertainment more than
serious lectures or debates on politics and sociology.
Standard Chautauqua and Lyceum System and Redpath
Chautauqua were two of the largest circuits. Circuits
would often utilize faculty members and students from
the University of Nebraska for many of the lectures and
musical performances.
In 1907, Kearney participated in its first
Chautauqua circuit. According to Edna Luce’s
“Chautauqua,” the 1907
circuit that began in Blair
and ended in McCook
brought campers to
Kearney who would “enjoy the week living the
simple life mid the cool
breezes and delightful
shade of the park.”
Kearney and surrounding
communities came together
at Third Ward City Park to hear orators, as well as
musical performances such as the Williams’ Original
Dixie Jubilee Singers.
Kearney caught the Chautauqua fever and for several years offered Chautauqua venues. Speakers such
as U.S. Rep. Champ Clark of Missouri addressed audiences at a July 4 Chautauqua, and Judge Frank Sadler
from Chicago addressed Kearney audiences at the
1914 J. D. Reed-promoted Chautauqua. According to
the 1914 souvenir program, Reed, who hailed from
Hastings, had “the vision and ideals that make for permanent Chautauquas.” At that point, the idea of
Chautauqua appeared to be a permanent one and, for
many years, Nebraskans statewide would pack wooden
benches to participate in what Theodore Roosevelt
called “the most American thing inAmerica.”
At its peak, President Woodrow Wilson called
the Chautauqua movement a major contributor to the
war effort. Chautauquas presented military bands and
introduced wounded soldiers on the platform who told
their stories to audiences whose news sources were
limited to local papers and letters.
Chautauquas were so popular that it was not uncommon for Lexington, Nebraska’s Charles F. Horner,
co-founder of the Redpath-Horner Chautauqua Circuit, to book more than 60 shows in one season.
Page 19
Historical images of Chautauqua include (clockwise,
from bottom left) a program for the Dixie Jubilee
Singers, who appeared at the 1907 Kearney
Chautauqua; a crowd under the tent in the early days of
the circuit; a souvenir program of the 1914 Kearney
Chautauqua and a ticket from the 1908 event.
Chautauqua speakers included Teddy Roosevelt, Helen
Keller, Mark Twain, Clarence Darrow, Carrie Nation,
George Norris, and perhaps the most famous
Chautauquan, William Jennings Bryan, who presented
his speech “Prince of Peace” more than 3,000 times.
Chautauqua was a tradition for Nebraskans and Plains
citizens.
Several factors led to the decline of traveling
Chautauquas, such as increased mobility, radio and film
entertainment, economic decline, and a change in national attitude. Perhaps most significant of those factors
was the radio, where news was quickly and directly
broadcasted to the general public. The radio made it
possible to hear FDR’s “fireside chats,” the Metropolitan Opera, and radio shows like “Amos and Andy”
from the comfort of living rooms.
The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) rekindled its state’s Chautauqua tradition in 1984 with
modern Chautauquas that use public forum and discussion to focus on a particular historical era or theme. For
more than 20 years, the NHC has brought humanitiesbased, modern Chautauqua programs to communities
across Nebraska.
This year the NHC is honored to continue its
Chautauqua tradition with the 2008 Kansas-Nebraska
Chautauqua in Falls City and Hastings.
Welcome to Hastings
Hastings Mayor Matt Rossen
Chuck Shoemaker and Lynne Friedewald
Adams County Historical Society
Gretchen and Hal Lainson
Chautauqua could not have come to Hastings this summer without the help of so many city offices, businesses, associations, and dedicated individuals. A special
thank you to:
Acme Printing
Adams County Emergency
Management
Blue Rivers Champs
Central Nebraska Public Power
City of Hastings Parks and
Recreation Department
Delken Press
Harness Hustlers Harness Club
Hastings Area Chamber of
Commerce
Hastings Community Theatre
Hastings Museum
Hastings Police Department
Hastings Public Library
Hastings Tribune
Hastings Utilities
Jackson’s Car Corner
Jerry Spady Pontiac
Cadillac GMC Jeep
KHAS TV
KHAS/KLIQ/KICS Radio
Kool Aid Days
Tropical Sno
YWCA
Thanks also to the dozens of additional donors and volunteers whose names were not available at press time; without your help, none of this could have happened!
Chautauqua Steering Committee
Pam Bohmfalk
Kenzie Choquette
Eric Christensen
Jeremy Daniels
Craig Eckert
Kaleena Fong
Matt Fong
Barb Harrington
John Harrington
John Huthmacher
Bob Johnson
Dennis Kellogg
Betty Kort
Ron Kort
Becky Matticks
Bill Murphy
Tam Pauley
John Quirk
Linda Rea
Catherine Renschler
Page 20
Hauli Sabatka
Jack Sandeen
Lorie Schiefelbein
Chris Schukei
Elizabeth Spilinek
Ken Stewart
Peter Theoharis
Bernie Tushaus
Loren Uden
Joachim Wunderlich
Laura Wunderlich