Chautauqua Lecture Series: “Beyond 1776: The Aftermath & Enduring Legacies of the Revolution
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This year’s programs will take place on Thursdays, September 3, 10, 17, and 24, at 6 p.m. St. Simons Presbyterian Church. The lectures will be recorded and available for viewing after the program. The cost for the series is $50 for members and $95 for non-members. Individual lecture tickets are available for $30 each. To register, please visit https://www.coastalgeorgiahistory.org/date/chautauqua-lecture-series-beyond-1776/
Many of us can picture the end of the American Revolution: French Naval vessels off the coast, the white flag waving over Yorktown, and the signatures of British representatives and new Americans on the Treaty of Paris. But could a conflict so philosophical and essential to who we are—as people and as a nation—really end with the surrender of Cornwallis? The root causes of the war with Britain and the ideas that drove the Patriot cause remain with us still, even as we celebrate their 250th anniversary. This year’s Chautauqua Lecture Series will explore the continuing legacy of the Revolution through the eyes of experts in four different fields. Join the Coastal Georgia Historical Society for in-depth explorations of the Revolution’s lasting power and its ideas’ ongoing role in civics education, world history, women’s rights, and the study of the war itself.
On Thursday, September 3, 2026, Dr. Richard Bell will begin this year’s Chautauqua series with a lecture titled “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.” Dr. Bell, a Professor of History at the University of Maryland, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his B.A. from the University of Cambridge. He has received the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest honor for teaching faculty in the Maryland state system. From 2021 through 2023, he was an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, and he has held research fellowships at more than two dozen libraries and institutes. His recent books include Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home and 2025’s The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, which provides the title of this initial lecture to the Chautauqua series.
Dr. Emma Humphries will deliver a program on Thursday, September 10, on the topic “Legacies of the Revolution through Civics Education.” She has served as the Chief Education Officer of iCivics, the country’s largest civics education organization, since 2016. Dr. Humphries began her career as a classroom teacher, focusing on American government, before receiving her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Florida. She previously served as the Civic Engagement Coordinator at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, where she developed programs to connect with students at her alma mater. During her tenure, she created and taught an award-winning online citizenship course, titled “Rethinking Citizenship: Identity, Collaboration, and Action.”
Dr. Charlene Boyer Lewis will speak on the role of women in the Revolution and the fate of women’s rights on Thursday, September 17. Dr. Boyer Lewis is the Director of American Studies and of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Kalamazoo College. She received her Ph.D. in History, with distinction, from the University of Virginia. She specializes in women’s history, southern history, and American cultural and social history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr. Boyer Lewis is the author of both Ladies and Gentlemen on Display: Planter Society at the Virginia Springs, 1790-1860 and Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte: An American Aristocrat in the Early Republic. She also co-edited and contributed to the recent essay collection Women in George Washington’s World, and her next book, Traitor, Wife: Peggy Shippen Arnold and Revolutionary America, is forthcoming in early 2027.
Our series will conclude with Dr. Andrew Davenport’s lecture, “Echoes of the Revolutionary Era,” on Thursday, September 24. Dr. Davenport is the Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. His work has been published in Lapham’s Quarterly, Literary Matters, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Smithsonian Magazine, on topics including Thomas Jefferson’s death and legacies, Ralph Ellison in mid-20th century New York City, and the influence of Black literature on post-World War II French culture. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in U.S. History from Georgetown University, and he currently serves as a member of the inaugural cohort of the White House Historical Association Next-Gen Leadership Ambassadors.
Many of us can picture the end of the American Revolution: French Naval vessels off the coast, the white flag waving over Yorktown, and the signatures of British representatives and new Americans on the Treaty of Paris. But could a conflict so philosophical and essential to who we are—as people and as a nation—really end with the surrender of Cornwallis? The root causes of the war with Britain and the ideas that drove the Patriot cause remain with us still, even as we celebrate their 250th anniversary. This year’s Chautauqua Lecture Series will explore the continuing legacy of the Revolution through the eyes of experts in four different fields. Join the Coastal Georgia Historical Society for in-depth explorations of the Revolution’s lasting power and its ideas’ ongoing role in civics education, world history, women’s rights, and the study of the war itself.
On Thursday, September 3, 2026, Dr. Richard Bell will begin this year’s Chautauqua series with a lecture titled “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.” Dr. Bell, a Professor of History at the University of Maryland, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his B.A. from the University of Cambridge. He has received the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest honor for teaching faculty in the Maryland state system. From 2021 through 2023, he was an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, and he has held research fellowships at more than two dozen libraries and institutes. His recent books include Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home and 2025’s The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, which provides the title of this initial lecture to the Chautauqua series.
Dr. Emma Humphries will deliver a program on Thursday, September 10, on the topic “Legacies of the Revolution through Civics Education.” She has served as the Chief Education Officer of iCivics, the country’s largest civics education organization, since 2016. Dr. Humphries began her career as a classroom teacher, focusing on American government, before receiving her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Florida. She previously served as the Civic Engagement Coordinator at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, where she developed programs to connect with students at her alma mater. During her tenure, she created and taught an award-winning online citizenship course, titled “Rethinking Citizenship: Identity, Collaboration, and Action.”
Dr. Charlene Boyer Lewis will speak on the role of women in the Revolution and the fate of women’s rights on Thursday, September 17. Dr. Boyer Lewis is the Director of American Studies and of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Kalamazoo College. She received her Ph.D. in History, with distinction, from the University of Virginia. She specializes in women’s history, southern history, and American cultural and social history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr. Boyer Lewis is the author of both Ladies and Gentlemen on Display: Planter Society at the Virginia Springs, 1790-1860 and Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte: An American Aristocrat in the Early Republic. She also co-edited and contributed to the recent essay collection Women in George Washington’s World, and her next book, Traitor, Wife: Peggy Shippen Arnold and Revolutionary America, is forthcoming in early 2027.
Our series will conclude with Dr. Andrew Davenport’s lecture, “Echoes of the Revolutionary Era,” on Thursday, September 24. Dr. Davenport is the Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. His work has been published in Lapham’s Quarterly, Literary Matters, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Smithsonian Magazine, on topics including Thomas Jefferson’s death and legacies, Ralph Ellison in mid-20th century New York City, and the influence of Black literature on post-World War II French culture. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in U.S. History from Georgetown University, and he currently serves as a member of the inaugural cohort of the White House Historical Association Next-Gen Leadership Ambassadors.
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Where is it happening?
St. Simons Presbyterian Church, 205 Kings Way, St Simons Island, GA 31522-4317, United States, Saint Simons Island
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherCoastal Georgia Historical Society
