Dr. Vicki Rozema
The Friends of Moccasin Bend present the second of the three programs that comprise their ninth annual Fall Lecture Series on Monday, at 7 p.m. in UTC’s University Center Auditorium. Featured speaker will be historian Vicki Rozema, Ph.D., author of three books on Cherokee history.
Dr. Rozema’s topic is the Trail of Tears, in honor of the Friends’ continuing work with the National Park Service in rediscovering and re-opening the historic Old Federal Road on Moccasin Bend as an historic and natural public hiking trail. The Old Federal Road was one of the principal routes used in the 1838 Cherokee Removal.
The speaker will focus on how a growing interest in science and technology in the American South of the early 1800s contributed to the Cherokee Removal, as both a cause and a tool. “Southern leaders wanted to tap the land and mineral resources of the Cherokee Nation in order to advance westward expansion, bolster commerce and aid in national defense,” said Dr. Rozema. “Cherokee leaders were bent on controlling their nation’s internal affairs and were opposed to outside interference.” Dr. Rozema said that these conflicting desires set the stage for the complete removal of the Cherokee from their homelands. She will also discuss how advances in transportation technology facilitated the actual removal of the tribe to Oklahoma.
Dr. Rozema holds a Ph.D. in history from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where she taught World History and American History. The Moccasin Bend lectures are presented in collaboration with the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Geography at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. They are open to the public free of charge.
If you’re going: Parking is free after 5:30 p.m. on the UTC Campus. Lecture-goers are advised to park in one of the two closest lots to the University Center: the surface lot at 5th Street and Lansing Court (just behind the Maclellan Gymnasium) or the 5th Street Garage (across 5th Street from the University Center). Take Lansing Court to the west entrance of the UC, at the passenger drop-off. Stairs and the elevator are just inside. The University Center Auditorium is just to the left on the second floor, when exiting the elevator or stairs.
About the Lecture Series: Now in its ninth year, the Friends of Moccasin Bend Lecture Series is underwritten by Greg Vital: co-founder, President and CEO of Independent Healthcare Properties, LLC, an assisted living and senior care services company based in Chattanooga. Mr. Vital has a strong commitment to preservation, conservation and national park advocacy. He serves on several local and national advisory boards, including the National Park Conservation Association, the Trust for Public Land, and the Friends of Moccasin Bend.
About Moccasin Bend and the Friends of Moccasin Bend: The Friends of Moccasin Bend is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization supporting the National Park Service in preserving, protecting and interpreting Moccasin Bend National Archeological District, where evidence exists that shows 12,000 years of human history. Moccasin Bend became a unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and the National Park system’s first and only National Archeological District, when it was so designated in 2003.
The Trail of Tears