Well cared for and gleaming uniform white stones, Knoxville's National Cemetery still doesn't look ancient, but in fact it's one of the city's best-preserved relics of the Civil War. Its establishment was a priority of General Burnside when his army occupied Knoxville in 1863, and some graves are exactly where they were during the Confederate...
Lectures
Love history and want to learn more? Explore a variety of historical topics as authors, scholars, and local historians present the latest research and books, as well as new looks at old subjects. Lectures are open to the public and are free of charge unless otherwise stated.
Previous Lectures
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@ East Tennessee History CenterOctober 17, 2018 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
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@ East Tennessee History CenterOctober 11, 2018 - 6:00pm to 8:00pm
In 1982 Knoxville hosted the People’s Republic of China for its inaugural World’s Fair participation. Join Bo Roberts, the president and CEO of the World’s Fair and former UT vice president, Jack Neely, executive director of the Knoxville History Project, and Shellen Wu, UT associate professor of modern Chinese history, to commemorate the event...
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@ East Tennessee History CenterOctober 10, 2018 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Join the Knox County Public Library and the East Tennessee Historical Society and hear a noon presentation by John Stewart, Legislative Director for Senator Hubert Humphrey, as he speaks on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Lunch will be available, but pre-orders will need to be made through the Library's webpage.
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@ East Tennessee History CenterOctober 8, 2018 - 12:00pm to 11:00pm
One of the most extraordinary units in military history trained in Tennessee, then went to Europe in 1944 to put on a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the Germany Army as their audience. Armed with inflatable tanks, sound effects, and more than a few tricks up their sleeves, these men of the Twenty-Third...
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Presented by the University of Tennessee History DepartmentSeptember 20, 2018 - 5:00pm to 6:00pm
People in the South have never stayed still for long. From the founding of the nation to today, people have moved to, through, and from the South. By tracing these movements in the eras of slavery, segregation, and the present, we trace the countours of Southern history over two centuries.
Edward Ayers, Ph.D., is the Tuceker-Boatwright...
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@ East Tennessee History CenterAugust 23, 2018 - 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Edward Terry Sanford was born in Knoxville and is one of only six Tennesseans to have served on the United States Supreme Court (1923-1930) and the only one who obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee.
Stephanie L. Slater's important work covers Sanford's early upbringing, the lasting impression a largely pro-...
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@ East Tennessee History CenterAugust 22, 2018 - 12:00pm to 1:00pmWhile the term "Code Talkers" is often associated with World War II, the story actually begins in WWI, when to avoid German deciphering of messages, the U.S. military employed Native Americans fluent in both their native language and English, to send secret messages in battle. The first known use of Native Americans in the American military to...
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@ East Tennessee History CenterAugust 19, 2018 - 2:30pm to 3:00pmEllen Berry (1894-1992), a descendant of Knoxville founder James White, was a southern aristocrat who lived a life of love, riches, world travel, and royal connections. Yet her life was marred by tragedy, sorrow, and a misplaced trust that took her fortune and became an episode of the television series Unsolved Mysteries. ...
