Join us for a three-part series exploring the many perspectives and roles of East Tennesseans during the Vietnam War and surrounding events. East Tennessee PBS and the East Tennessee Historical Society will present a three-part series of programs based on our region's connections to the Vietnam War.

Anyone with items, documents, or photographs from the war is encouraged to bring them to the East Tennessee History Center on the dates listed below for documentation, scanning, or photographing as part of a project to record and preserve records and experiences from that era. Your materials will be returned the same day.  

Vietnam War: East Tennessee | Friday, August 4, 2017, 5-7 p.m.  

Nolpix Media and East Tennessee PBS will premiere locally produced documentaries featuring the perspectives of veterans, Vietnamese residents, and peace activists in East Tennessee. A panel discussion consisting of Vietnam veterans will follow.

 

The Vietnam War | Friday, August 18, 2017, 5-7 p.m.

Join us for an advanced screening of segments of Ken Burns & Lynn Novick's documentary: The Vietnam War. The epic, ten-part, 18-hour documentary series will air on PBS in September. A panel discussion by historians and peace activists will follow.

 

Vietnam War: UT Student Films | Friday, September 1, 2017, 5-7 p.m.

University of Tennessee's Land Grant Films present a premiere screening of student-produced films about he Vietnam War and East Tennessee. Films will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Landgrant Films staff and student filmmakers.  

 

The National History Day (NHD) competition is an annual contest for middle and high school students. Each year middle and high school students advance from school, district, and state levels to compete in the national finals at College Park, Maryland. East Tennessee students have proven amazingly competitive. This program will feature video documentaries by East Tennessee students who have won first place or scored high in nationals. It is especially significant that these entries are based on local stories: a family farm lost to a TVA Dam, a 1929 strike by women workers at a rayon plant in Elizabethton, and the amazing story of the East Tennessee bridge burners. Some 500,000 students participate nationally. ETHS is the coordinator for the East Tennessee Region, an affiliate of the national contest.

 

The program is sponsored by the Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel and Crematory and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a "Brown Bag" lunch and enjoy the lecture. Soft drinks will be available.

 

From the institution of slavery to the black church, to businessmen, politicians, Knoxville College, schools, segregation laws, and much more, Knoxville historian Bob Booker will discuss 130 years (1844-1974) of black history in Knoxville. His encyclopedic knowledge was earned through decades of historical research and from the perusal of thousands of pages of old newspapers. Much in demand as a speaker, Booker is the author of three books, several booklets, a long-running newspaper columnist, and a former executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center in Knoxville. Mr. Booker's new book, Experiences of Black People in Knoxville, Tennessee, 1844-1974, will be available for purchase and signing following the lecture.

 

The program is sponsored by the Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel and Crematory and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a "Brown Bag" lunch and enjoy the lecture. Soft drinks will be available.

 

Andrew Jackson's infamous Indian removal policy, which led to the Cherokee Trail of Tears, has become the single greatest stain on his reputation. What really happened and why, and how much was Jackson to blame? Daniel Feller, Professor of History and Editor/Director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson at the University of Tennessee, will explore the events and assess Jackson's responsibility for them.

Traveling exhibit panels from Andrew Jackson's Hermitage will accompany the lecture as part of the presidential home's Andrew Jackson 250th birthday commemoration programming. Created by the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the panel exhibition is on view at the East Tennessee History Center August 4-20.

Representatives from the Hermitage, along with Dr. Dan Feller, will host a booth in Krutch Park at the East Tennessee History Fair, August 19, where they will be available to visit with the public.
      

The lecture is sponsored by the Hermitage with ETHS as the local host, and is one of a series of programs to be presented by Andrew Jackson's Hermitage across the state to commemorate the Jackson's 250th birthday. 

August 4:  PBS Documentary Preview of The Vietnam War: The East Tennessee Story
August 9:   East Tennessee History Day Award-winning Documentaries- Brown Bag Lecture
August 12:  Civil War Genealogy on the Internet Workshop
August 16:  Experiences of Black People in Knoxville, Tennessee, 1844-1974- Brown Bag Lecture
August 18:   The Vietnam War Ken Burns Documentary Screening & Panel Discussion
August 19:   10th Annual East Tennessee History Fair
August 20:   Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal, and the Trail of Tears: History, Legacy, & Responsibility Lecture with Dr. Dan Feller & Exhibit by Andrew Jackson's Hermitage
September 1:  Vietnam War: UT Student Films Documentary Preview & Panel Discussion
September 2:  Introductory Internet Genealogy Workshop
September 13:  Using Genealogy Research to Solve the Mysteries of Quilts- A Brown Bag Lecture
September 23:  Beginning Genealogy Workshop
October 7:  Autosomal DNA for Genealogy Workshop