While the issues facing the world today may seem to bear little resemblance to those of the 18th-century world, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Chautauqua Institution have banded together to show how the fundamental issues that arise during revolutions today mirror those that arose during revolutions of the past.
Through a partnership established in 2009 between CWF and Chautauqua Institution to offer programming as part of “The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and The Chautauqua Institution: Emerging Citizenship Series,” distinguished writers and scholars will work alongside historical re-enactors to juxtapose past and present in an effort to showcase similar themes in revolutions across the ages.
About seven years ago Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Colin Campbell gave a presentation about citizenship at Chautauqua, which is a New York-based nonprofit community that offers educational programming for nine weeks each year.
Out of that presentation came the partnership, and the two locations have alternated programming for the past several years, with this year’s first event taking place in Williamsburg on Feb. 21 and 22.
“We both feel we’ve got similar missions. We’re obviously committed to educating the public,” said James Horn, who is the vice president of research and historical interpretation and the Abby and George O’Neill director of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg. “For us, of course, most of what we do revolves around the American Revolution and what we can learn from the past. …”
Chautauqua aids in sponsoring dialogue about modern-day issues. In the upcoming event, “Turning Worlds Upside Down: Liberty and Democracy in Revolutionary Times,” several guest speakers will appear in Williamsburg in addition to speakers and re-enactors from Colonial Williamsburg.
For the programming, Horn said the institutions will begin by establishing a definition of emerging citizenships, as well as the role of Chautauqua and Colonial Williamsburg in helping to advance the discussion on the topic.
Sprinkled throughout the scholarly discussions are re-enactments relating to issues of past revolutions: slavery, the horrors of the French Revolution and 18th century British Governor of Detroit Henry Hamilton’s war crimes and the meaning of justice in wartime Virginia.
Three Colonial Williamsburg programs were designed for the two-day event: “‘The Hairbuyer,’ The Case Against General Hamilton,” which is a refreshed version of a former Revolutionary City program; “Fightin’ Another Man’s War”; and “The Sacred Foundations of Liberty and Equality.”
In “The Hairbuyer,” re-enactors will examine what happens to the rule of law and the justice system during a revolution and how people’s rights are protected, Horn said. Hamilton is alleged to have hired Native Americans to scalp people who supported the American patriot cause, which led to his nickname.
“Fightin’ Another Man’s War” looks at a 1781 law allowing Virginia to use slaves as bounties for white soldiers enlisting in the war. “The Sacred Foundations of Liberty and Equality” will feature Bill Barker as Thomas Jefferson and Mark Schneider as the Marquis de Lafayette speaking about the American and French revolutions in 1824 Virginia.
“We’re trying to be candid about how revolutions can reveal some divisions within societies and can reveal them in a very stark way. So, we have to look at both the optimism but also some of the challenges of revolution,” Horn said.
For more information about the program, including a complete list of events, and to register, visit Colonial Williamsburg’s website. Registration costs $175 and includes both days of programming, lunch, opening and closing receptions and a Colonial Williamsburg admission pass valid through the end of Feb. 23.
The program’s speakers and panel and roundtable discussion moderators include:
- Dr. David Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein professor of history at Harvard University
- Dr. Patrick Griffin, Madden-Hennebry professor of history at University of Notre Dame
- Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, senior curator and director of collections and interpretations at The Museum of the American Revolution
- Robin Wright, joint fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson Center and an award-winning journalist
- Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed, Charles Warren professor of American legal history at Harvard Law School
- Thomas Becker, president of Chautauqua Institution
- Sherra Babcock, vice president and Emily and Richard Smucker chair for education at Chautauqua Institution
- Colin Campbell, president and CEO of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
- Dr. James Horn, vice president of research and historical interpretation and Abby and George O’Neill director of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library of Colonial Williamsburg
- Bill Weldon, creative director of the Revolutionary City at Colonial Williamsburg
- Dr. Bill White, Royce R. and Kathryn M. Baker vice president of productions, publications and learning ventures for Colonial Williamsburg
