Chautauqua Women Move Mountains
The ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2020. What is now being called the "Year of the Woman" will also unfold at the Victorian Chautauqua in Mountain Lake Park, MD, on July 11 and 12. Audiences will experience stories of women who survived sinking ships, colonized Maryland, led the charge to ratify the 19th Amendment, and created Johns Hopkins Medical School. Performances will feature women from history who moved mountains by ignoring convention and harnessing their fervor to reshape and equalize the roles of both genders.
"We wanted the stories at this year's event to honor the bravery and sacrifice women have made over the years," says Lori Youse, who sits on the Victorian Chautauqua Program Committee. "Without them, my and other women's lives would be much different today."
On the schedule is a lecture about Mary Elizabeth Garrett, daughter of the famed J. W. Garrett, who served as president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for three decades, delivering hordes of passengers by rail to Mountain Lake Park's Chautauqua resort through the late 1800s and into the 1900s. Presenter and published author Kathleen Waters Sander has dutifully chronicled Mary's life as a powerful force in the women's movement as a suffragist, philanthropist, and reformer in her book, Mary Elizabeth Garrett: Society and Philanthropy in the Gilded Age. Mary's greatest accomplishment was funding the opening of Johns Hopkins Medical School, which was contingent upon accepting women. It was a revolutionary stipulation.
Mary Helen Spear also serves on the committee that selected the 2020 program. "Women still face inequities in various aspects of personal and professional life," Mary Helen points out. "Keeping the conversation going at the Victorian Chautauqua is one way to highlight women's advancements that will inspire the next generation not to let gender inequities stand in their way."
Award-winning actress JoAnn Peterson will take the stage as Margaret Brown, more fondly called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Brown is most noted for her brazen personality and helping passengers evacuate the sinking Titanic. She was also an accomplished actress who leveraged her notoriety from the headline-grabbing disaster to be an effective activist and humanitarian.
In a unique way of honoring the ratification of the 19th Amendment, mother-daughter duo Liz Cannon and Joanna Guy will portray the life of Alice Stokes Paul, an American suffragist who led the largest women's march on Washington, D.C., in 1913. At a time of uncertainty, Paul's leadership turned the tide for equal rights in America. This performance shrewdly weaves the fascinating story of a young and mature Paul who stayed the course to victory.
The 2020 Victorian Chautauqua will also include Kid-Tauqua, a series of activities and presentations for young audiences. Award-winning actress Mary Ann Jung will portray Margaret Brent, the first woman to demand the vote in America, the first female lawyer, and landowner—all unheard of for a woman in the 1600s. Jung will channel this dynamic Maryland colonist in an interactive and entertaining program for all ages titled Margaret Brent & The Indians.
A special presentation of Women's Monologues will highlight tales and perspectives of women and their accomplishments through the decades, with many connections to Garrett County, Maryland's furthest-west region, where Mountain Lake Park was founded in 1881.
The 2020 Victorian Chautauqua delivers lectures, historical performances, and live music in four venues over the two-day weekend. There will also be lots of activities and special guests, all set in the charming historic district of Mountain Lake Park. The family-friendly event is free to the public and includes food, artisans, and Victorian house tours. Anyone in attendance is encouraged to don Victorian attire to enhance the experience.
