Chautauqua: Our History

2025

Anything Goes: America in the Roaring 20s

Al Capone, by Doug Mishler
Zitkala-Sa, by Selene Phillips
Zane Gray, by David Fenimore
Bessie Smith, by Rebecca Marks Jimerson
Mae West, by Karen Vuranch

2024

60 Years since the Civil Rights Act: Lift Every Voice

Earl Warren, by Doug Mishler
Rosa Parks, by Vanessa Adams-Harris
Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, by Leslie Goddard
Thurgood Marshall, by Jim Armstead
Coretta Scott King, by Rebecca Marks Jimerson

2023

American Aviation: Barnstorming to Mach 1

Amelia Earhart, by Elsa Wolff
Eula “Pearl” Carter Scott, by Selene Phillips
Rose Cousins, by Ilene Evans
Jackie Cochran, by Karen Vuranch
Chuck Yeager, by Doug Mishler

2022

Surviving the 60s: Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll

Allen Ginsberg, by Joey Madia
Christopher Isherwood, by John Anderson
Cass Elliot, by Karen Vuranch
Dr. Timothy Leary, by Ted Kachel
John Lennon, by Randy Noojin

2021

20th Century Visionaries: Catalysts for Change
(virtual presentations due to Covid 19)

Gene Roddenberry, by Doug Mishler
Gertrude Bell, by Karen Vuranch
Marshall McLuhan, by John Anderson
Marie Curry, by Susan Marie Frontczak
Frank Lloyd Wright, by Ted Kachel

2020

Cancelled due to Covid-19

2019

From Pizarro to Picasso: Hispanic Legacy in America Today

Francisco Pizarro, by Hank Fincken
Bartolome de las Casas, by Paul Vickery
Elizabeth Catlett, by Ilene Evans
Ernest “Che” Guevara, by Joey Madia
Pablo Picasso, by Doug Mishler

2018

The Modern Age: Moving Forward After World War I

Gen. Black Jack Pershing, by Doug Mishler
Gertrude Vanderbilt, by Debra Conner
Acee Blue Eagle, by Michael Hughes
Josephine Baker, by Vanessa Adams-Harris
Ernest Hemingway, by Dr. John Anderson

2017

The Great West: Cowboys and Cattle Trails

Jesse Chisholm, by Michael Hughes
Thaddeus Dunkley, by Jim Armstead
Betty Matthews Reynolds, by Sally Drucker
Johanna July, by Vanessa Adams-Harris
Hanging Judge Isaac Parker, by Doug Mishler

2016

The Cold War: The Early Years

Nikita Khrushchev, by Doug Mishler
Ralph Bunche, by Jim Armstead
Eslanda Robeson, by Ilene Evans
Winston Churchill, by Kevin Radaker
Pete Seeger, by Randy Noojin

2015

The Dust Bowl: Strong Winds, Strong Characters

John Steinbeck, by Noel Pugach
Hazel Lucas Shaw, by Sally Ann Drucker
Lena Lowery Sawner, by Vanessa Adams-Harris
Ernie Pyle, by Doug Mishler
Woody Guthrie, by Randy Noojin

2014

A Crisis of Confidence: The War that Changed the World

Edith Wharton, by Karen Vuranch
Emma Goldman, by Sally Ann Drucker
Henry James, by John Anderson
Woodrow Wilson, by Paul Vickery
Theodore Roosevelt, by Doug Mishler

2013

Anything Goes: America in the 1920s

Will Rogers, by Doug Watson
Henry Ford, by Doug Mishler
Bessie Coleman, by Ilene Evans
Babe Ruth, by Gene Worthington
Zelda Fitzgerald, by Debra Conner

2012

Behind the Screen: Hollywood’s Impact on American Culture

Jack L Warner, by Doug Mishler
Ethel Waters, by Ilene Evans
Bob Hope, by Bill Worley
William Faulkner, by John Anderson
Gordon Parks, by Charles Pace

2011

It’s All Make Believe: Hollywood’s Golden Era

DW Griffith, by Doug Mishler
Louella Parsons, by Karen Vuranch
Paul Robeson, by Joseph Bundy
WC Fields, by Hank Fincken
Walt Disney, by Bill Worley

2010

The Wounds of War: A Tale of Two Americas

Stonewall Jackson, by Doug Mishler
William Seward, by Bill Worley
Major Martin Delaney, by Joe Bundy
Clara Barton, by Karen Vuranch
Robert E Lee, by Ted Kachel

2009

Lincoln’s Legacy of Equality: Voices on the Fringe

Harriet Tubman, by Ilene Evans
John Ross, by Michael Hughes
Walt Whitman, by Carroll Peterson
Fredrick Douglass, by Charles Pace
Jefferson Davis, by Doug Mishler

2008

A Time for Every Purpose: America in the 1960s

Malcom X, by Charles Pace
Betty Friedan, by Sally Ann Drucker
Rachel Carson, by Judy Gail
Barry Goldwater, by Gary Gray
George Wallace, by Doug Mishler
Moderator: Julia Child, by Karen Vuranch

2007

OK Centennial: 100 Years of Oklahoma Heroes

Will Rogers, by Doug Watson
Kate Barnard, by Dixie Belcher
Waite Phillips, by William Worley
Lynn Riggs, by John Anderson
Frank Frantz, by Gary Gray

2006

Throw the Book at ‘Em: Outlaws and Authors of Oklahoma

Belle Starr, by Karen Vuranch
Bill Tilghman, by Michael Hughes
Carry Nation, by Judy Gail
Woody Guthrie, by K.C. Mathey
Marquis James, by Paul Vickery

2005

Portraits of the Renaissance: Poets, Pirates and Playwrights

Christopher Columbus, by Hank Fincken
Lucrezia Borgia, by Sally Ann Drucker
Grace O’Malley, by Karen Vuranch
William Shakespeare, by Ted Kachel
Leonardo da Vinci, by Peter Donaldson

2004

Route 66: The Mother Road

Thomas Hart Benton, by Doug Mishler
John Steinbach, by Noel Pugach
Cyrus Avery, by William Worley
Bob Wills, by Michael Hughes
Henry Ford, by Hank Fincken

2003

Lies and Compromises: America in the 1850s

J Goldsbrough Bruff, by Hank Fincken
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, by Noel Pugach
Francis Ellen Walker Harper, by Dorothy Prince
William Lloyd Garrison, by Michael Hughes
Henry David Thoreau, by Kevin Radaker

2002

From Sea to Shining Sea: American Expansion and Cultural Change 1790-1850

William Clark, by Jeffery Smith
Tecumseh, by Jerome Kills Small
York, by Charles Pace
John Jacob Astor, by Jerome Tweton
Sacagawea, by Selene Phillips

2001

Behold Our New Century: Early 20th Century Visions of America

Booker T Washington, by Charles Pace
Jane Addams, by Helen Lewis
Theodore Roosevelt, by John Lehman
Andrew Carnegie, by Jeffrey Smith
Charles Eastman (Ohlyesa), by Jerome Small

2000

The Evolution of the West: Myth and Reality

Theodore Roosevelt, by Jerome Tweton
Owen Wister, by John Gentile
Charles Goodnight, by Paul Christensen
Angie Elbertha Debo, by Suzan King
Will Rogers, by Doug Watson

1999

Voices of Ragtime: Visions of our Future Past

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, by Sally Roesch Wagner
Henry Ford, by Paul Vickery
Madam C.J. Walker, by Elizabeth Brown-Guillory
H.G. Wells, by Ted Kachel
Alexander Graham Bell, by Michael Hughes

1998

Early America: The Struggle for Freedom

Thomas Payne, by Danney Goble
Judith Sargent Murray, by Kerry Strayer
Abigail Adams, by Suzan Kin
Washington Irving, by John Anderson
Bishop Francis Asbury, by Paul Vickery

1997

Prime Times, Scoundrel Times: Post War America

Winston Churchill, by Ted Kachel
Joseph McCarthy, by Paul Vickery
Lillian Hellman, by Viki Spencer Pettijohn
Eleanor Roosevelt, by Suzan King
Edward R Murrow, by Felix Almaraz Jr.

1996

The Progressive Era: 1890-1920

William Jennings Bryan, by Ted Kachel
Charlotte Perkins Gillman, by Suzan King
H.L. Mencken, by Paul Vickery

1995

Voices of the ’30s: Defining Modern America

Margaret Bourke-White, by Suzan King
Huey Long, by Danney Goble
William Faulkner, by John Anderson
H.L. Mencken, by Paul Vickery
Zora Neale Hurston, by Dorothy Prince