Virtual Chautauqua: VOYAGEURS: Indigenous People, the Fur Trade & Early Chicago
Greenville Chautauqua and Spartanburg County Libraries present VOYAGEURS: Indigenous People, the Fur Trade & Early Chicago, a virtual Chautauqua performance. Living Historian Jon F. Rice performs as French Canadian fur trader and voyageur Francois Le Mai, as he and his friend Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable arrive by canoe to early Chicago. Although nothing more than a little swamp filled with wild garlic and a muddy river running through it, businessman DuSable grasps the importance of that stream: “It’s location, my friend!” Through music, song, and dance, we learn of the Meti-society (Creole culture) of Chicago, and why DuSable, a fur trader of African descent and the “Father of Chicago,” abandoned his dream. Dr. Rice is a Chicago-based tri-racial historian, and retired Professor of African American and Native American History who is of Choctaw Heritage. The event will feature audience Q & A. Free, but registration is required.