A novelist who was the first African-American to be published abroad. A former slave who sued her master for freedom. And one of the first black men to graduate from West Point. These are just some of the historical figures actors with the Kentucky Chautauqua program portray, telling their stories in communities across the commonwealth.
The program focused on the stories of Black Kentuckians in a series of performances throughout Black History Month.
Kentucky Humanities executive director Bill Goodman said it’s by far one of the most popular services his organization offers. Kentucky Chautauqua was started over three decades ago by the nonprofit and has revived more than 70 different deceased historical figures.
“[Kentucky] Chautauqua performers are professional actors and performers who take on the life and times of historical figures across the commonwealth,” he said. “These are performers who do the research and the scholarly endeavor to bring them up to date on someone who has had a significant impact on the history of Kentucky.”
Chautauqua is a Haudenosunee word – the language of the Iroquois – with multiple meanings. The word most commonly translates to “two moccasins tied together,” and it’s also the name of a lake in the state of New York which the local Iroquois tribe named Lake Chautauqua.
In the late 1870s, the Chautauqua Movement was started by Methodists looking to provide accessible education to the general public. They founded the Chautauqua Institution in New York, and the institution remains active to this day supporting public education efforts across the United States. Other programs have spawned over the last century carrying the ideas and sometimes even the name into a new generation of public education initiatives.
Kentucky Chautauqua currently offers twenty-three different historical figures which range from popular icons, such as Abraham Lincoln, Adolph Rupp and Colonel Harland Sanders, to lesser known figures like country singer/songwriter Grandpa Joe and Colonel Charles Young, a Black military leader who was among the first African-American graduates of West Point.
Goodman said Kentucky Chautauqua made it a point to focus on the stories of Black Kentuckians who often go unmentioned during Black History Month.
“This is our opportunity to go into schools and go into the general public and let people know that there were prominent and significant members of the African American community who contributed a great deal to the history of Kentucky,” he said.
One of those prominent figures is William Wells Brown who is considered by historians to be the first published Black novelist from the United States. Brown’s novel, "Clotel; or The President’s Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States", was published overseas in 1853 by an English press and centers on a fictionalized telling of the story of Thomas Jefferson; Sally Hemmings, his Black housekeeper; and their biracial children.
Brown may be the first African American novelist to be published, but Harriet E. Wilson holds the title for being the first Black American author to have a novel published in the United States in 1859.
Virgil M. Covington Jr. is a former educator from Lexington and an actor for Kentucky Chautauqua. He started performing as Brown in 2017. Covington said that he doesn’t try to shy away from the ugly injustices Brown experienced while he was a slave.
“It's really important to get a true version, a true picture, of what slavery was about,” he said. “It wasn't ‘the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home’ like we see in movies and those types of things.”
Covington worked with a historian to research Brown before taking the stage for his first performance. The task was made easier, he said, by Brown himself. The author penned an autobiography before his death in 1884. Covington said that researching the conditions the author dealt with helped him to learn more about slavery than he did in school.
“I really didn't understand the word ‘chattel slavery’ until I got into studying, and so now I try to make sure that everybody understands that ‘chattel’ means property,” Covington said. “We were treated just like you would treat a cow, or a horse, or a sheep, or a donkey, or a goat.”
Maysville native Elizabeth Lawson moved to Minnesota and worked for years in the state’s education system and even advised the White House for a time during the Bush administration on incorporating people with diverse backgrounds into the government’s library and information systems. Now, she’s an actor for Kentucky Chautauqua portraying Charlotte Dupuy, a slave who tried to sue Henry Clay for her freedom and was later released.
Lawson said she dealt with institutional racism while attending Robertson County schools as a child. She said the experience taught her that stories told to children can have a lasting impact on how they perceive themselves and others. Lawson added perpetuating stereotypes or white washing the history of injustice African-Americans have faced can lead to a negative self-image for Black Americans.
“It weakens a person's mind and, in some, it can lead them to places where they don't want to go, but it puts you mentally at a disadvantage,” she said. “It's important to know who you are, because if you don't know who you are, you're doomed to repeat it.”
Lawson said she hopes that her performances can contribute to a larger movement. She encourages others of any race to look into their history and heritage to understand their place in history and modern day.
The former Minnesota teacher thinks that Kentucky has a rich, deep history just waiting to be rediscovered – and that telling these “untold” stories can spark a greater understanding for generations to come.
“I just pray that out of this … movement of us telling the truth about our history – the great contributions Blacks have made – that we start digging and exploring into our history,” Lawson said. “Some of those untold stories that are very powerful … would have a great impact on our children.”
Kentucky Chautauqua performances happen throughout the year and can be requested by any organization or institution interested in hosting a performance.
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