Local Histories
Knoxville As History
Knoxville is home to many significant histories, relating to American history, and what it has meant to be an American—or an Appalachian Southerner—over time. Knoxville was home to a signer of the U.S. Constitution in Governor William Blount. Sergei Rachmaninoff gave his last concert here in Knoxville in 1943. Knoxville life in the early 1900’s and 1950’s are immortalized in James Agee’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and in Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree, respectively. A World’s Fair which welcomed Communist China in 1982 was hosted here and brought us the Sunsphere. And Cas Walker, an archetype of the flamboyant southern politician, has become a local legend. These are only a few reasons historians relish living in Knoxville. More histories can be found in links below.
Cas Walker Stories
The Cas Walker Stories project gathers the stories and legends told about one of 20th century Knoxville’s most famous citizens. Cas Walker was a grocer-politician-media celebrity-music promoter-coon hunter whose colorful life has become the stuff of the region’s favorite urban legends. Many of these are gathered in Cas Walker: Stories on his Life and Legend, published by UT Press and edited by Joshua Hodge, a PhD student in History Department who passed away while the book was in its final stages of completion.
When the World Came to Knoxville
In 1982, more than 11 million people came to Knoxville to experience the hospitality of East Tennessee and cultures from around the world. The 1982 World’s Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, ran May 1 through October 31 under the theme “Energy Turns Our World” and would become recognized as the last successful World’s Fair held in America.*
UTK History professor Ernie Freeberg joined WUOT 91.9 FM with other guest experts to share the context and lesser-known history behind the 1982 World’s Fair: its exhibitions, its architecture, and its secrets. Listen to all 4 episodes of When the World Came to Knoxville in the link below.
*From When the World Came to Knoxville: Remembering the 1982 World’s Fair
The Jangle Podcast
Visit with Department of History’s Professor Chad Black in the Podcast The Jangle. In The Jangle, Black sits down with historians to learn how his interviewees arrived at their careers, what they are researching, and to dig into their thoughts on how history has informed where we are today.
The Jangle features interviews with Beau Gaitors, Monica Black, Brandon Winford, Charles Sanft, Sara Ritchey, and Shellen Wu.
“Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental.”
—Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
