Since its beginning in 1992, Kentucky Chautauqua® has brought to life more than 70 people from Kentucky's past - both famous and unknown.
Our Chautauqua performers travel to schools and community organizations throughout the state delivering historically accurate dramatizations of Kentuckians who made valuable contributions.
The current Kentucky Chautauqua cast includes 25 figures from Kentucky's rich and colorful history. From William Wells Brown's struggle for freedom and John Marshall Harlan's role as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, to Alice Lloyd's struggle to bring education to Appalachia and Jean Ritchie's musical legacy, Kentucky Chautauqua offers something for every classroom and community group.
Kentucky Educational Television (KET) hosted a program about Kentucky Chautauqua as part of their Kentucky Muse series. To view Kentucky Chautauqua on Kentucky Muse visit https://www.ket.org/muse/ky-chautauqua/
The First Kentuckian
1734-1820
Script by Bo List
Daniel Boone is the quintessential Kentuckian, having blazed the trails that would become the map of Kentucky through courage, love of the newfound region, and his cunning facility with the land and its native peoples.
Born November 2, 1734, Boone quickly demonstrated a preference for the outdoors and established himself as an accomplished hunter and explorer. In 1767, he first visited Kentucky and found this new territory as beautiful as it was dangerous, as it was hotly contested by native populations and the ever-advancing British colonists.
Boone was an intrepid adventurer and natural leader whose exploits justify his larger-than-life reputation. In 1784, John Filson published The Discovery, Settlement And Present State of Kentucke. This influential book chronicled the adventures of Boone and established him not only as an important settler and explorer of Kentucky and the west, but as an American legend.
Life on the Frontier
1762-1834
Jemima Boone, the fourth child of Daniel and Rebecca Bryan Boone, was born in North Carolina, on October 4, 1762. Destined to live a life beyond the borders of civilization, she helped pioneer two American frontiers: Kentucky and Missouri.
Typical of pioneers in the era, Boone endured heartbreak and suffering almost unimaginable to modern Americans. One of the most well-known stories to come out of Kentucky's pioneer past involved 14-year-old Jemima. In July 1776, Boone was kidnapped by a group of Native Americans. Her father led a search party that caught up with the captors and rescued the girls after three days in captivity.
In 1777, Boone married Flanders Callaway, a union that lasted nearly 50 years. Together with the other settlers at Boonesborough, they endured times of terrible suffering, facing starvation, cold, and the ever-present fear of attack.
"Votes for Women!"
1872-1920
Madeline McDowell Breckinridge — or Madge, as she preferred — was both a state and national leader of the women’s suffrage movement, and was highly instrumental in Kentucky’s ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting American women the right to vote. Born in Franklin County and raised in Lexington, Madge, the great-granddaughter of Henry Clay, was expected to dedicate her life to public service — but she surpassed every expectation. While her biggest triumph was the women’s suffrage movement, Madge was also a progressive reformer who worked tirelessly to advance the living conditions of the poor, established educational programs, changed the outlook of child welfare and juvenile rehabilitation, and promoted the need for tuberculosis research. Unafraid and unapologetic, Madge used every opportunity to reach anyone who would listen. She recited countless speeches and marched in many demonstrations, calling for "Votes for Women” — and proudly cast her ballot in the U.S. Presidential Election of 1920.
Call the Midwife
Script by Janet Scott with Bo List
Mary Carson Breckinridge founded the world-famous Frontier Nursing Service, establishing a team of trained nurse-midwives. Often referred to as “Angels on Horseback,” they risked their lives daily to deliver babies and provide public healthcare in the remote mountains of eastern Kentucky beginning in the 1920s. Mary recognized the need for accessible healthcare for all Americans and through years of training, heartbreak, triumphs, and hardships she was successful in proving that if the needs of children in the most rural regions could be met, entire families could thrive anywhere in the world. An internationalist and visionary in the field of public healthcare, Mary went on to establish the Frontier Nursing University, which currently educates public health practitioners who have built upon Mary’s vision and carried the work of the Frontier Nursing Service around the world. The story of Mary’s courage and triumph over tragedy are an inspiration for empathy and compassion in our world today.
How I Got My Name
1814/1815-1884
William Wells Brown was the first published African American novelist and playwright. Brown was born to an enslaved mother. Due to inadequate record keeping for slaves, the time and place is not assured. He was likely born in 1814 or 1815 in the Mt. Sterling area or in Lexington. Brown experienced the dissolution and sale of his own family and witnessed the harsh and brutal separation of other families in the institution of slavery. After years of failed attempts to escape slavery, for which he was jailed and beaten, Brown finally escaped to a life of freedom in 1834.
William Wells Brown went on to become a public advocate of the abolitionist and temperance movements. His memoir, Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself, had a direct influence on the abolitionist movement. In 1853, he published Clotel; or the President's Daughter and in 1858, a play The Escape; or a Leap for Freedom.
Divided We Stand
1777-1852
Script by Bo List
Henry Clay was born in 1777, a child of the American Revolution. Throughout his life, Clay earned many titles: Kentucky State Representative, United States Representative, Speaker of the House, Secretary of State, and United States Senator. One name and title that eluded Clay, however, was “President of the United States.” Yet, he was one of the most widely known and respected public servants of his day, garnering a reputation for bringing people together into common purpose and consensus. His compelling oratory ability and diplomatic talents are widely credited with helping to hold the Union together long enough to survive the eventual Civil War, as well as to forge a national identity that could outlast the devastating conflict. Henry Clay famously said that he would “rather be right than be President.” While he never did reach the Presidency of our nation, Clay’s legacy as “The Great Compromiser” may very well have saved it.
A Voice for the Forest
1888-1958
In the first two decades of the 20th century an industrial juggernaut invaded Eastern Kentucky. Timber, coal, and railroad companies forced overnight change on a culture that had been stable for a century. Lilley Cornett, born on Linefork Creek in Letcher County, faced all this with optimism and an eye toward a better future. But this new world was full of unforeseen danger and deceit from unexpected sources.
After being drafted for the war, Lilley returned home to face a new world with grit and ingenuity. Using his army pension and money earned from card game winnings during a stay at Walter Reed Army Hospital, Lilley purchased 500 acres of old growth timber on Pine Mountain. Determined to ward off the timbercutters, the chestnut blight triggered his final confrontation with outside forces and shaped his savagely funny revenge on a hapless local timber operator.
Suing for Freedom
1787-d. after 1866
The daughter of George and Rachel Stanley, Charlotte Dupuy was born in Cambridge, Maryland, in 1787. Her parents were owned and enslaved by Daniel Parker. Eight short years later, Dupuy was sold to James Condon for $100 and was forced to leave her family.
In 1805, at the age of 18, Charlotte was brought to Kentucky by Mr. Condon and was registered as his slave. While in Kentucky she met Aaron Dupuy, who was enslaved by Henry Clay and his wife, Lucretia. Charlotte and Aaron were married in 1806 and Charlotte was sold to the Clay family.
In 1825, the Clay family moved to Washington, D.C. as Henry Clay served as Secretary of State. Charlotte found a lawyer who filed papers for her and her children, suing for their freedom. Her petition was denied and Charlotte was jailed for refusing to return to Kentucky with the Clays. She was later emancipated by Henry Clay in 1840.
Abolition...Amen!
1816-1901
As the son of a slave-holding father, John Gregg Fee was raised witnessing the material and financial advantages slave labor provided. When he graduated from college and enrolled in Lane Theological Seminary, Fee began to understand the inherent wrong and destructiveness of slavery. He was determined to become an Abolitionist and work for the immediate end to slavery. Fee committed his life and work to ending slavery and discrimination at home in Kentucky.
Fee's dedication and passion for the abolishment of slavery gave him the strength to persevere through the wrath and disappointment of his father, financial hardship, and threats to his safety. His work led to the founding of Union Church of Christ, an anti-slavery, non-denominational church, which planted the seeds for what would become Berea College.
Kentucky Derby Winner
1891-1971
Roscoe Tarleton Goose was born on a Jeffersontown, Kentucky, farm in 1891. As a child, Roscoe took a job riding horses for a blacksmith in Louisville to help his family's finances. Fearless and slight of build, Goose was a natural horseman. While exercising horses at Churchill Downs, Goose was approached by trainer John Kuprion to ride as a jockey. By autumn of 1910, Roscoe Tarleton Goose was the leading money winning jockey at Churchill Downs and was one of the top riders in America. A few years later, he had attracted the attention of trainer and farm owner Thomas Patrick Hayes. Hayes had a horse called Donerail he wanted Goose to ride in the Kentucky Derby. In what was a stunning victory, Roscoe Tarleton Goose and Donerail won the 1913 Kentucky Derby. The race odds were set at 91:1, the longest odds of a Derby winner, a record which still stands.
Kentucky's Most Famous ABCs
1940-2017
Mystery writing was in Sue Taylor Grafton's blood. Born in Louisville, she grew up in a household of voracious readers. After receiving a degree in English from the University of Louisville, Grafton moved to California where she worked odd jobs, published several mainstream novels, and worked as a Hollywood screenwriter. Grafton's first mystery novel, A is for Alibi, was released in 1982, setting the stage for her best-selling alphabet murder mystery novels. Grafton's central character, Kinsey Millhone, worked for just causes, was one of the first female hard-hitting detectives, and paved a new road for both female mystery writers and their heroines. The novels explored various social issues: family, domestic violence, child abuse, discrimination, homelessness, and the justice system. Grafton wrote 25 best-selling alphabet novels before she died.
Being Aunt Jemima, the Pancake Queen
1834-1923
Script by Bo List
Nancy Green became one of the first prosperous African American women in the U.S. Green was born enslaved in Montgomery County, Kentucky, in 1834. While in Kentucky she worked for the Walker family and moved with them to Chicago just after the Great Fire, in 1872. Eight years later, Nancy Green became "Aunt Jemima." Businessman R.T. Davis had purchased a pre-mixed, self-rising recipe for pancakes and wanted an "Aunt Jemima," a character from minstrel shows which were popular at the time, to be the face of his pancakes. "Aunt Jemima" would be a friendly, animated, African American cook who served a wealthy white family. Playing the role of "Aunt Jemima" gave Green financial independence few African Americans and few women experienced at the time. She used her wealth as a means to empower her community. She was particularly active in her church, leading missionary trips, investing in anti-poverty programs for African Americans, and advocating for equal rights. Though her work depended on a derogatory racial stereotype, her financial success demonstrates how black Americans could sometimes play on and use such images to their advantage.
The Great Dissenter
1833-1911
During his 33 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice John Marshall Harlan dissented in some of the court's most important civil rights cases.
In one of the most famous dissents in history, Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the constitutionality of segregation, Harlan wrote: "Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows or tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law."
Though Harlan was born in Boyle County to a prominent slaveholding family, and was once a slaveholder himself, he fought for the Union during the Civil War after graduating from Centre College and earning his law degree at Transylvania.
He was often chastised for contradicting himself politically, but Harlan always maintained that the law afforded him the right to change his mind — and his support for equal rights after the Civil War never waned.
Pistol Packin' Woman
1880-1960
Feisty, funny, and completely fearless, Aunt Molly Jackson lived for nearly 50 years in the coal camps of Southeastern Kentucky, where her father, brothers, husband, and sons were miners. In the camps, Aunt Molly delivered babies, nursed the sick, and wrote and sang songs about the miners' lives. Her "Hungry Ragged Blues," for example, tells of miners during the Depression who regularly risked their lives underground, but did not earn enough to feed and clothe their children. Aunt Molly' songs, her eloquence, and her intimate knowledge of life in the camps impressed Theodore Dreiser and his committee of writers when they visited Kentucky in 1931. Dreiser encouraged Aunt Molly to move to New York City, where her heartfelt songs and lively stories made her a popular and well-known spokesperson for Kentucky miners. Today, Aunt Molly's songs and stories take us back to the Eastern and Western Kentucky coalfields of the early 20th century.
Country Musician and Comic
1913-1998
Louis Marshall Jones, better known as Grandpa, was the son of Henderson County sharecroppers. Jones, who had a repertoire of songs learned from his parents and the radio, won a talent contest that led to regular work on an Akron radio station. That launched a career that lasted more than 60 years. It was during tours with country music star Bradley Kincaid in the 1930s that Jones developed the Grandpa persona he used the rest of his life.
Jones wrote many of his most popular songs. Like many old-time musicians, he struggled during the rock-and-roll craze of the 1950s — he toured Canada and tried his hand at early television. Beginning in 1969, television brought Jones fame as a member of the original cast of "Hee Haw," which showcased his skills as a vaudeville comic. Grandpa Jones was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978. He never retired, suffering a fatal stroke after a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1998.
Attorney at Law
1809-1865
Script by Bo List
Much is known about President Abraham Lincoln. But who was the Hodgenville, Kentucky, native before he arrived in the White House to lead the United States through the Civil War? Largely self-educated, Lincoln moved from one professional pursuit to another: carpenter, riverboat man, store clerk, soldier, merchant, postmaster, black-smith, and surveyor. His intellect, curiosity, compassion, and ambition would eventu-ally lead him to greatness. He settled in Springfield, Illinois, in 1837 to practice law. Lincoln’s political career began in 1834, when he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives where he served until 1842. Five years later he served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847-1849. His run for a second term was unsuccessful due to his unpopular opposition to the Mexican War. Following defeat, Lincoln returned to practicing law full-time in Springfield.
Stay on, Stranger
1876-1962
Called "the stubbornest woman" in Kentucky, Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd was born near Boston. Her way with words led to a career as a journalist, and later, as the editor of the first all-female newspaper staff in America.
Health problems forced Alice at age 40 to move to a warmer climate. She packed up her typewriter and headed by horse and buggy to the mountains of Kentucky. Acceptance from the people of Eastern Kentucky came slowly. Yet, Alice stayed and showed the good one person can do. She wanted to educate Appalachian children through college at little or no cost to them. Alice and her friend June Buchanan started Caney Junior College (later renamed Alice Lloyd College). Her journey included a gunshot scare, an invitation to the White House during Herbert Hoover's term, a Hollywood television appearance, a major story in Reader's Digest, and many mountain miracles.
Frontier Surgeon
1771-1830
On Christmas Day 1809, 1,000 miles away from the nearest hospital and 35 years before the discovery of anesthesia, Dr. Ephraim McDowell removed a 22-pound ovarian tumor from the abdomen of a 46-year-old woman. It was the world's first ovariotomy, and it eventually brought McDowell worldwide acclaim as the father of abdominal surgery. The patient, Jane Todd Crawford, had ridden three days on horseback to reach McDowell's home in Danville, Kentucky, to have the operation. The medical authorities of the day were convinced that opening the abdomen meant certain death, so McDowell was far from sure that the surgery would succeed. He told Crawford he would proceed only if she "thought herself prepared to die." She said she was ready, but they needn't have worried. Mrs. Crawford came through with flying colors and in less than a month was on the way home to Green County.
Educating Young Women
1770-1860
Fleeing the brutality of the French Revolution, Charlotte Victorie LeClerc Mentelle arrived in America in 1794. After a rough beginning in Gallipolis, Ohio, Charlotte, and her husband eventually made their way to Lexington where they opened Mentelle’s School for Young Ladies. Madame Mentelle taught social etiquette, literature, dancing, and French. She also worked to build character, instill discipline, and foster a strong work ethic in her students. Among Mentelle’s School for Young Ladies’ star students was Mary Ann Todd, who would go on to become Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States. Despite often being labeled as an eccentric by people in Lexington, Mentelle believed in equality and supported education for women.
Damsel with a Dulcimer
1922-2015
Traditional musician, songwriter, poet, commercial performer, recording artist, author and composer Jean Ritchie, born in Viper, Perry County, Kentucky, in 1922, was the youngest of Balis and Abigail Ritchie's 14 children. She began her recording career in 1952, signing with Elektra Records. Throughout her career she recorded more than 35 albums, which strongly reflected her Kentucky heritage and featured her playing the mountain dulcimer. Known as the "Mother of Folk," Ritchie was a major contributor to the national revival of folk music across American during the mid to second half of the 20th century. Artists including Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton have covered her songs. Jean Ritchie was also an outspoken environmental activist. Her song, "Black Waters" is a well known protest song that Ritchie wrote about strip mining in Kentucky.
The Coach
1901-1977
During the 42 years he coached the University of Kentucky men's basketball team, Adolph Rupp raised the game to near-religious status in the Commonwealth. Rupp's teams won 880 games, four national championships, and one Olympic gold medal. There was a flip side to all this success — the team was suspended for the 1952-53 season after a point-shaving scandal, and Rupp was heavily criticized for taking too long to integrate the Kentucky basketball program.
Adolph Rupp grew up in Kansas, the son of immigrant farmers. He played three years of varsity basketball at the University of Kansas, but never scored a point. He began his coaching career in Kansas, but soon moved on to high schools in Iowa and Illinois. The University of Kentucky hired him in 1930. Rupp's genius for public relations and his team's winning ways combined to make Kentucky basketball a statewide phenomenon, a point of pride around which Kentuckians of all stripes still rally.
Hard Work, Luck, and Perseverance
1890-1980
Although he is most well-known for the 11 herbs and spices that made Kentucky Fried Chicken famous world-wide, Harland "Colonel" Sanders' life was about much more than fried chicken. The man whose face became synonymous with "finger-lickin' good" chicken used hard work and perseverance to become recognized as Kentucky's most famous citizen.
Sanders delved into the restaurant business in Corbin, opening a lunchroom behind a service station. His restaurant grew rapidly , and his customers made fried chicken the most popular item on the menu. He might have worked in that cafe forever if it weren't for the building of interstate 75, forcing him to sell his place at auction.
In his mid-60s, Sanders decided to travel the country showing restaurants how to make Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken. While most men his age were retiring, Sanders continued doing what he did best, cooking and selling fried chicken.
The Last Shaker at Pleassant Hill
1836-1923
When the first Shakers arrived in Kentucky, they built their village at Pleasant Hill on the western frontier, where they lived a privileged, communal life as educated artisans with their "hands to work and hearts to God." The Shakers empowered women, freed enslaved people and served as an army of peacemakers during the Civil War.
Within months of her arrival at Pleasant Hill, Mary Settles worked together with her Shaker sisters and brothers to provide the "simple gifts" of food and medical care to the armies of both the North and South. The last Shaker to live at Pleasant Hill, Mary Settles served as an eldress, deaconess, and teacher of women, maintaining the highest educational standards for the public school at Pleasant Hill. The story of these revolutionary Kentuckians is affirming of our nation's courageous history of passive resistance in the fight for civil rights and offers a vision of social justice for our future.
Bridge Builder
1864-1922
Charles Young was the third African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Young was born near Mays Lick, Kentucky, in Mason County, on March 12, 1864, a year before the end of the Civil War. His parents, Gabriel and Arminta, moved to Ripley, Ohio, to raise their son after the war ended. Young had a distinguished career of more than 30 years in the United States Army, rising from lieutenant to colonel, all while battling racism in a nearly all-white officer corps. Young’s success in an army that was not quite ready to embrace him required steadfast devotion and perseverance. He was at the height of his career when America entered World War I. Young accomplished much during his career, including being the first African American superintendent of a national park, the first African American military attaché, and the highest-ranking African American Regular Army officer at the time of his death.