Owensboro, Kentucky, and the Black Chautauqua Movement, 1907–1929

Most published studies of the Chautauqua movement in the United States have focused exclusively on White people and events. From the 1890s to the 1930s, however, a vibrant Black Chautauqua movement flourished alongside its White counterpart. The present article attempts to fill a scholarly gap by tracing the history of the Black Chautauqua movement in Owensboro, Kentucky. Two White-owned newspapers, the Owensboro Inquirer and the Owensboro Messenger (which later merged to form the Messenger and Inquirer), accompanied by additional reportage in Black-owned newspapers from elsewhere in the United States, provided extensive coverage of Owensboro events. This article argues that Owensboro’s location on the Ohio River, near the juncture of Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, along with the city’s flourishing Black community, undergirded the success of annual Black Chautauqua events from 1907 to 1929. Black ministers, as well as nationally recognized activists, educators, and orators such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett and George W. Carver appeared during events, which often focused on education and religion but also sought to raise the social, political, and economic consciousness of attendees.