Adult Workshops

Adult Workshop Descriptions

(AV – denotes DVD, power point, or sound system required for workshop)

Role of Political Satire and Commentary presented by Doug Watson (AV)

During the 1930s, political cartoons, radio programs, newspaper articles and films mirrored, and sometimes exaggerated, how Americans responded to political and religious leaders.  This workshop will use examples of Will Rogers’ work form the 1920s and 1930s to discuss the continuing role of humor as a response to today’s world.

Audio Visual Needs:

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)

Will Rogers:  Film and American Society presented by Doug Watson (AV)

From 1929 – 1935, Will Rogers made 21 “talkies.”  These movies, filled with Rogers’ trademark wit, wisdom, and an optimistic vision of American society, were extremely popular.  They also provide insight into social topics from the time period, such as new wealth, rural distress, and political and economic corruption.  This workshop examines how Rogers’ movies informed Americans about complex issues.  Can the same be said about today’s movies?

Audio Visual Needs:

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)
• Computer speakers (external)

Agriculture Then and Now presented by Patrick McGinnis (AV)

Looking at farming practices before the Dust Bowl, this workshop will consider how New Deal policies changed traditional farming practices and the role of government in agriculture, and how such policies affected rural communities.  Today’s farm policies, in one form or another, are essentially those policies first put in place in the 1930s.  These policies have brought profound change in markets, technology, farm size, and ownership, the latter having to do with the widespread emergence of corporate farming.  The family farm has not disappeared, but it has changed enormously since the 1930s.  This workshop will look at the force for those changes.

Audio Visual Needs:

• Laptop computer

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)
• Computer speakers (external)

What Do Historians Say?  presented by Patrick McGinnis (AV)

The New Deal of the 1930s has been controversial since FDR first proposed a vague program with that title during his presidential election campaign in 1932.  An overview of the primary scholarly interpretations of FDR and the New Deal will allow for an examination of varying historical perspectives.  These and other differing perspectives and their influences will be presented to allow audiences to evaluate published historical information, and will allow for discussion on how that information affects our view of FDR and the New Deal.

Audio Visual Needs:

• Laptop computer

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)
• Computer speakers (external)

Crisis and the role of the Demagogue presented by Fred Krebs (AV)

Recent natural disasters offer poignant comparisons with the Thirties and a means to evaluate political ideologies.  Participants will consider what leadership meant to Huey Long and how he attempted to solve the depression crisis in his state and nation.  Clips will be show of Rossen’s 1949 film “All the King’s Men.”  The workshop will examine: 1) the reasons for the rise of demagogues; 2) the power and role of demagogues – was Long a demagogue? 3) the susceptibility to demagoguery in democracy; and 4) failures and successes of the New Deal.

Audio Visual Needs:

• Laptop computer

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)
• Computer speakers (external)

OR

• DVD player and television

Huey Long and State Innovation presented by Fred Krebs

Huey Long was brilliant in the innovative approaches he took as governor of Louisiana. He worked to create laws in his state to make life easier and more equitable for the people.  This workshop will give participants an opportunity to explore Huey Long’s record as a reformer as well as examine other state innovations that were taking place to effect change.

Radio in the Thirties presented by Tonia Compton (AV)

E-mail, Internet, cellular telephones, digital photography, television, and video have quickly changed the ways in which Americans communicate with each other and the world.  Similarly, radio in the Thirties greatly changed the ways Americans learned about their world and communicated with each other.  Used by four of our historical characters as a “new” medium to reach the American public, this workshop will include samples of popular shows of many types and an analysis of radio’s impact upon cultural, political, and social changes that help to illustrate the Thirties.  In fact, the radio and other technologies of the Thirties ended the popularity of the traveling Chautauqua.  This fact will be used to stimulate a discussion of how new technology today influences and shapes American society.

Audio Visual Needs:

• Laptop computer

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)
• Computer speakers (external)
• Internet access

Floods, FEMA, & the Faithful:  Religious Organizations’ Relief Efforts in the Wake of Disasters presented by Tonia Compton (AV)

This workshop will examine the development of religious groups’ work providing relief efforts to people across the United States when natural or man-made disasters wreak havoc on human habitation.  From the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina to disasters in the early 20^th century like the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, victims and government agencies have come to rely on private efforts by religious organizations to provide aid.  This workshop will

consider the development of this trend and look at how churches and other religious groups responded to the Depression and the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains.

Audio Visual Needs:

• Laptop computer

• Data projector (for PowerPoint presentation)
• Computer speakers (external)

Go Gator and Muddy the Water presented by Wanda Schell

Zora Neale Hurston wrote for the Federal Writer’s Project during the 1930s, collecting folklore as well as other stories.  In this workshop, participants will compare Kansas and Nebraska folklore, myths, and rituals to that of Florida collected by Hurston and its importance both then and now.  Additionally, participants will explore healing rituals, songs, and children’s games from Hurston’s writing and how some of the more controversial themes were received by her contemporaries.