This summer, Ohio Chautauqua will visit four towns with strong Chautauqua ties. The tour begins in Piqua (June 5-9). Evening performances will take place under the Hance Pavilion, erected after WWI to showcase the popular traveling Chautauqua shows of the era. Performances will begin at 7:30 pm with live local music at 6:15 pm. Ohio Chautauqua 2018: Modern Legends will showcase historical figures from the mid-twentieth century whose lives and work left a larger-than-life imprint on the American Psyche, including Erma Bombeck, Cesar Chavez, Betty Friedan, Benjamin O. Davis and Robert F. Kennedy.
On Wednesday, June 6th at 1:00, James Armstead, a humanities scholar who performs as Benjamin O. Davis, will visit the WACO Air Museum to present his free workshop titled, “The Airplane, Flying the 20th Century”. Both youth and adults will find this to be of interest.
Since the early days of the 20th Century, flying has defined progress. Crossing continents and oceans and shortening travel times have been accomplished by airplanes. Innovations in the science of flight have made international travel not only possible but comfortable, commonplace and inexpensive. No place on earth is inaccessible any longer and we are a planet with common interests, if not purpose, all thanks to this wonderful invention which affects our daily lives in untold ways. What is this wondrous thing called flight and how has it progressed since Kitty Hawk all those years ago?
Presenter James Armstead has been a professor of strategy and international law for nearly 40 years, served as Chief of Staff to a member of Congress, participated in negotiations enlarging NATO, served in the United Nations Secretariat, and has served in the US Army, the US Army Reserves, and the National Guard. He has been performing since 1992, including two past tours with Ohio Chautauqua.
There is no charge for the event and parking is free. Seating begins at 12:30 pm. and the program is scheduled to last one hour. It will be held in the Willis Wing of the WACO Air Museum at 1865 South County Road 25A in Troy, OH. For more information, visit ohiohumanities.org. or call WACO Air Museum at 937-335-9226.