What Are Pageants?

In the early 20th century, historical pageants started to emerge as a popular form of public celebration throughout the United States. Historical pageants were often held outdoors with large casts featuring dramatic retellings of history. These pageants aimed to educate and inspire audiences by bringing history to life through music and drama. Pageants usually commemorated important events, and these retellings often had a strong sense of nationalism to portray their history positively. They also built a very strong sense of community, both in those producing them and the community. Working together using drama, costumes, and music to celebrate a shared history helped build strong bonds all around. When researching this topic, I looked at one historical article from 1992 written by Louise Burleigh titled “Virginia Presents in Pageant and Procession The Story of Three Centuries’ Progress”. In his article, he discusses an upcoming pageant in Virginia and discusses various aspects of pageants and scenes from the newly written one. The start of his article states, “A pageant of the history of Virginia must interest all Americans.” These pageants were much more than just a retelling of history, they were huge communal events.

Pageants in Virginia

Historical pageants in Virginia naturally focused on the history of the state. These pageants were special because as Louise Burleigh states, “... no other state has contributed more to the growth and power of the nation than that which bore and nourished Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Marshall, Patrick Henry, and Lee.” Virginia holds a special place in history. It’s not only the home of so many historical figures, but also one of the original states, so a lot of these retellings are relevant to the origins of the whole country. In his article, Burleigh also discusses Thomas Wood Stevens, a very popular pageant writer and producer who’s well-known for the work he puts into his pageants. Burleigh also discusses how while Stevens was producing his pageant for Virginia he, “...insisted that the emphasis in his work should fall upon what was characteristically Virginian in all that happened in the State.” This begs the question, what kind of events would be “characteristically Virginian”? When navigating the vast history he was trying to cover, Stevens focused on two points, “the continuity of the civilization with that in England and the intense love of freedom which has created modern democracy.” For these points, he chose to include a large amount of political scenes like that of Bacon’s Rebellion. This shows the kind of themes that were emphasized in historical pageants in Virginia: themes of freedom and showcasing Virginia’s greatness. This is also shown in UVA’s own 1921 centennial pageant. The barebones synopsis of the pageant is that it was made to honor Jefferson, UVA’s founder, and to dramatize the creation of UVA. But within this pageant, there are still important themes of democracy and freedom, as it’s performed just a few years after World War I. These views and ideals heavily impacted historical pageants throughout Virginia and the country.

Nationalism and Historical Views in Pageants

As you can see by now, pageants were very heavy in terms of nationalism. The concepts of the pageants, the scenes of the pageants, and the themes of the pageants were all designed to instill patriotic feelings for the nation into the audience’s hearts. Especially after World War 1, many pageants were made with intense feelings of nationalism meant to invigorate the nation. Even more specific pageants, like UVA’s centennial pageant, were designed in a way to evoke a sense of pride; in this case, for a school rather than a nation or state. But even in that example, with the appearance of Lafayette and lines of fighting for liberty in America and France, there were still ties from Jefferson’s quest for knowledge and education to values of democracy and freedom. Historical pageants were also acts of public history to commemorate historical events or eras. These performances served not only to spread nationalism but, more importantly, to educate audiences about their history in a fun and interesting way. Many pageant writers had deep knowledge of history and would also gather inputs from historians and other experts. Scenes were often chronological, showing the development of time to the audience. However, while these pageants did try to educate the audience on history, they usually painted a very one-sided picture. Pageants would often represent history in ways that emphasized unity and progress to encourage the audience and bring the community together. This often came at the expense of historical accuracy, as pageants would rarely cover social issues like injustice or discrimination. For example, the use of slaves wasn’t mentioned at all in UVA’s centennial pageant, even though slave labor originally built and operated the university. When Burleigh discussed Stevens’s pageant in his article, he mentions an interesting fact that scenes with Native Americans were unique in that they used the language recorded in John Smith’s book rather than a modern native language. While this was a good idea for the pageant, what it doesn’t cover is why that original language was lost. In an article written in 2024 by Derek Baron titled “Opera and Land: Settler Colonialism and the Geopolitics of Music at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School”, Baron discusses the treatment of natives in Indian boarding schools. A quote from the article states, “Now in school we were not allowed to converse in the Indian tongue.” So, while the pageant used the original language, it failed to acknowledge the harsh treatment in the future that led to the language being lost in the first place. Similar important topics in history would often be neglected in pageants in favor of portraying a brighter, more unified America.

Overall, historical pageants in Virginia, and the whole United States, were far more than just performances for entertainment. They were powerful tools that shaped identity and nationalism by presenting a certain view of history to the audience. While they often glossed over the nuances and dark parts of the country's past, they played a significant role in building and sharing a shared cultural experience.

Sources:

UVA Centennial Pageant Script

Pageant Article by Louise Burleigh

Pageants In US History Reading

Baron Indian Boarding Schools Reading