Chautauqua women’s suffrage shows set online Sept. 10-11

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote, Delaware’s 22nd annual Chautauqua tent shows, Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change, will be presented virtually from noon to 8:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday, Sept. 10 and 11, from the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 Chautauqua programs will not be conducted in front of a live audience but will instead be streamed live via Zoom.

Each of the Chautauqua programs is free and open to its first 100 registrants. For a complete listing of activities and registration instructions, go to history.delaware.gov/22nd-annual-chautauqua/.

Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change will demonstrate the passionate efforts of suffragists striving toward one goal – earning the right for women to vote and participate equally in the nation’s political, social and economic life. Through theatrical enactments by both individuals and groups, lectures and musical performances, Chautauqua guests will be immersed in the women’s suffrage movement and experience the impact that it had on Delaware and its people.

Activities will be capped with performances by actor-historians from the American Historical Theatre portraying noted suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, as well as a concert by the Women’s Orchestra Project.

As a complement to the 2020 Chautauqua, identical versions of the display Nothing Less: Delaware, Women’s Suffrage and Equal Rights have been installed at the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes.

Created by Delaware Humanities, the displays include two, three-sided columns featuring information and images on the suffrage movement in Delaware from 1848 onward.

Chautauqua takes its name from a series of adult education programs that were first held at a campsite on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in upstate New York during the late 19th century.

Reborn in the 1970s as a vehicle for humanities education, modern Chautauquas are often organized around a core program in which actor-historians portray celebrated historical figures speaking and interacting with audiences. Modern Chautauquas have been presented annually in Delaware since 1999 featuring a wide variety of historical personages.