History Center Presents John Sevier Lecture and Book Signing December 4

  • Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Chattanooga History Center will present a lecture by Gordon Belt, with Traci Nichols-Belt, on their recently released book, John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero, at 6:00pm on Thursday, December 4th. Books will be available for purchase and signing by the authors immediately following the lecture.  The program will be held in the History Center's orientation theatre on the mezzanine of the new facility, which is accessed through the front of the building on the Aquarium Plaza.  Admission is free.  Seating is limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis.

John Sevier was a frontier soldier, politician, and founding father of the state of Tennessee.  He commanded a frontier militia fighting against British Loyalists at Kings Mountain, waged war against the Cherokee people, and became Tennessee's first governor.  Following his death, he faded from public memory, but, years later, his image was resurrected through romanticized accounts of his exploits, relying heavily on folk tales and recollections from aging early settlers.  Gordon Belt and Traci Nichols-Belt examine Sevier's life work through the lens of history and memory.

Gordon Belt, a native of Chattanooga,  is the Director of Public Services for the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and is an active archives advocate.  He is founding editor of  The Posterity Project, an award-winning blog devoted to archives and history in Tennessee, and he previously worked as Library Manager for the First Amendment Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Nashville and Washington, D.C.  His wife, Traci Nichols-Belt, an historian and ordained minister, is the author of Onward Southern Soldiers: Religion and the Army of Tennessee in the Civil War.

 For more information, or to register, call 423-265-3247.


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