Chautauqua 2003: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Part 1)

Chautauqua Portrayal of Franklin D. Roosevelt by actor Ed Beardsley.

Ed Beardsley is a veteran of thirty-two years of teaching United States history at the University of South Carolina. He has published three books and twenty articles on the history of American medicine and science, and in the classroom he has received several university-wide teaching awards. Beginning in the 1980s, Beardsley wrote and produced a number of one-man shows -- including Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- which he performed both for his classes as well as for adult and student groups in twenty states. Trained originally as a chemical engineer, Beardsley turned to American history, in which he earned a PhD from the University of Wisconsin.

Chautauqua (shuh-taw-kwa) takes its name from a lake in upstate New York, beginning in 1874 as a training course for Sunday School teachers. In 1878 the Chautauqua movement expanded its philosophy of adult education to include an appreciation for the arts and humanities. By 1904, Chautauqua took to the road as part of the Lyceum movement, bringing lectures and entertainers to towns across America. By 1930, radio, movies, and automobiles had made Chautau¬qua largely a thing of the past.
Reborn as a public humanities program in 1976, today's Chautauquas feature scholars who take on the persona of celebrated historical figures, educating and entertaining audiences as they bring the past to life again. Families gather for our Chautauqua under starry skies in a big open tent.

To see the full video of Franklin D. Roosevelt, please contact the Maryland Humanities Council at mdhc.org

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Education

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• Franklin
• D.
• Roosevelt
• Maryland
• Humanities
• Council
• Chautauqua
• 2003
• FDR
• History
• New
• Deal

[jimmbo13]

Not to be mean, but his voice is nothing like FDRs, and his mannerisms are overdone.