Chautauqua 2003: Frederick Douglass (Part 1)

Bill Grimmette portrays Frederick Douglass during Chautauqua 2003 on the Germantown campus of Montgomery College. Video courtesy Montgomery College Television. Bill Grimmette is a living history interpreter, storyteller, actor, and motivational speaker who has performed throughout the United States and abroad. He has researched and performed the characters of Estevanico, Augustus Washington, Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, and W. E. B. Du Bois, with appearances at the Smithsonian Institutions and on National Public Radio. As an actor, Grimmette has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Shakespeare Theater, and the National Theater of Washington, D.C., and on radio, television, and major motion pictures. He has an MA in psychology from the Catholic University of America, and has done post graduate work in education at George Mason University. Grimmette has portrayed W. E. B. Du Bois and Benjamin Banneker at previous Maryland Humanities Council Chautauquas. 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.