About the Scholars

After a call for scholars that attracted applicants from across the country, KHC chose Dave Dickerson, Diane Eickhoff, Richard Johnson, Frederick A. Krebs, David Matheny, and Charles Everett Pace to bring historical figures to life on the Chautauqua stage.

Dave Dickerson, a human resources director and an Aldrich, Missouri, resident, portrays David Atchison, the U. S. senator and leader of the Border Ruffians from Missouri. Dickerson has performed with the Heartland Chautauqua as Civil War photographer Matthew Brady.

Diane Eickhoff presents Clarina Nichols, a leader in the temperance, abolitionist, and early women’s rights movement. Eickhoff, a Kansas City, Missouri, resident, is completing her biography of Nichols, Frontier Freedom Fighter: The Story of Clarina I. H. Nichols for publication in 2004.

Richard Johnson, professor of history at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, appears as Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president who toured the Kansas Territory in 1859 speaking against the extension of slavery to the territories. Johnson has presented Lincoln for the New Hampshire Chautauqua and for the Maryland Humanities Council.

Frederick A. Krebs, a humanities professor at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, portrays Stephen A. Douglas, the U. S. senator who authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Krebs has presented characterizations of historical figures including explorer John C. Fremont and artist William Merritt Chase in 18 states.

David Matheny, a retired speech professor at Emporia State University, brings fiery abolitionist John Brown back to Kansas. Matheny has portrayed John Brown for the Kansas Legislature and in previous Kansas chautauquas.

Charles Everett Pace, an instructor of anthropology and American studies at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, presents Frederick Douglass, the former slave, newspaper editor, and national abolitionist leader. Pace is a veteran of the Great Plains Chautauqua who has appeared as Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. DuBois.

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