Chautauqua 2007: George Washington Carver (Part 2)

This is a Chautauqua 2007 portrayal of George Washington Carver by actor Paxton Williams.

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) George Washington Carver was a renowned agricultural scientist as well as a distinguished educator, artist, musician, and humanitarian. Born a slave, he attended Iowa Agricultural College, where he received a Master of Science degree. In 1897 Booker T. Washington invited Carver to join the faculty of the Tuskegee Institute, where he gained an international reputation. He developed a method for crop rotation and revolutionized the economy of the South by liberating it from excessive dependence on cotton. He also discovered innovative uses for the peanut, soybean, and sweet potato and developed extensive industrial applications for agricultural crops. Carver received many honors, but did not patent or profit from his discoveries. Upon his death, he left his life savings to establish a research center at Tuskegee.

Paxton Williams serves as Executive Director of the Carver Birthplace Association in Diamond, Missouri. He is a graduate of Iowa State University, has a masters in public policy from the University of Michigan, and in 2003/2004 was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Birmingham, England. While in England, Williams served at the Drum, the largest arts centre in the UK dedicated to the promotion of African, Afro-Caribbean, and Asian arts and culture. Williams has portrayed George Washington Carver in fifteen US states and in England.

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 Chautauqua 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.

If you would like to see the entire portrayal, contact the Maryland Humanities Council at mdhc.org.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• George
• Washington
• Carver
• Chautauqua
• Maryland
• Humanities
• Council
• Paxton
• Williams