posted September 4, 2008
The 2008 Lecture Series Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park will begin Sept. 8. All lectures take place at the Tennessee Aquarium and are free and open to the public.
Sept. 8, 7 p.m.
Robert G. Stanton – Former Director of the National Park Service
Robert George Stanton was born on Nov. 22, 1940 in Forth Worth, Texas. His mother was a short order cook and his father was a hay contractor. He grew up in Mosier Valley, one of the oldest African American communities in Texas, settled by free slaves. He graduated from I.M. Terrell High School in Forth Worth in 1959.
He earned his bachelor's of science degree from Huston-Tillotson College in Austin in1963. The summer of his junior year in college he began his career with the National Park Service. Borrowing $250, he bought a train ticket to Wyoming and a park ranger's uniform and worked as a seasonal ranger at Grand Teton National Park. Mr. Stanton, along with several other African Americans, was recruited by then Interior Secretary, Stewart Udall who traveled to predominately Black college campuses recruiting students.
In 1963, Mr. Stanton began his graduate studies at Boston University and went back to Huston-Tillotson to work as the director of public relations and alumni affairs from1964 until 1966. That year, he took a full time job with the Park Service as a personnel management and public information specialist in the Washington, D.C. headquarters office. In1969, he became a management assistant and in 1970, he was appointed superintendent of Virgin Islands National Park in St. Thomas. In 1974, Mr. Stanton became deputy regional director of the Southeast Region of the National Park Service in Atlanta and in 1976 he returned to Washington, D.C. as assistant director of park operations. In 1978, Mr. Stanton was named deputy regional director of the National Capital Region, where he remained until 1986. In 1987, he returned to headquarters as associate director for operations, and in 1988, he became the first African American to serve as director of the National Park Service. Mr. Stanton's nomination for the post by former President Clinton was the first that had to be approved by the U.S. Senate, he was confirmed unanimously. He retired from that position in 2003.
Mr. Stanton currently works as an adjunct professor at Texas A&M teaching courses on conservation. He has also taught at Yale University and been the recipient of numerous awards for his civic work and environmental stewardship.
Oct. 6, 7 p.m.
Russell S. Bonds – Author
Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor
On April 12, 1862 a Union spy named James J. Andrews and nineteen infantry volunteers infiltrated north Georgia and stole a steam engine called the General. Racing northward at speeds approaching sixty miles an hour, cutting telegraph lines and destroying track along the way, Andrews planned to open East Tennessee to the Union army, cutting off men and materiel from the Confederate forces in Virginia. If they succeeded, Andrews and his raiders could change the course of the war.
Russell S. Bonds is an in-house lawyer at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta and a lifelong resident of north Georgia. He was born in Atlanta and grew up in Marietta, just a few blocks from the spot where James Andrews and his men first boarded the General on the morning of April 12, 1862. Mr. Bonds received a B.S. with honor from Georgia Tech and a law degree magna cum laude from the University of Georgia, where he was the Executive Articles Editor of the Georgia Law Review. He has published several articles and reviews on Civil War topics in national publications, including "Pawn Takes Bishop: The Death of Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk," Civil War Times (May 2006) and "Lieutenant Tecumseh: Sherman's First March Through Georgia, 1844," Civil War Times (forthcoming, 2007). He lives in Marietta, Ga. with his wife and three daughters.
Nov. 3, 7 p.m.
Alfred Berryhill – Second Chief, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
As Second Chief, Alfred Berryhill serves as Chairman of the Tribal Trade and Commerce Board, and the Muscogee Nation Business Enterprise Board. He also serves on the Claremore Indian Hospital Board, Okmulgee Creek Council House Board, Five Civilized Tribes Museum Board, and the Festival Committee Board.
The Second Chief speaks, reads, writes, and sings in Mvskoke and is a Decon/ Exhorter, at the Tallahassee Indian Methodist Church, the church his father once pastored. He belongs to the Alligator Clan and his tribal town is Arbeka. His father was of the deer clan.
Mr. Berryhill has served as the Administrative Inter (Economic Development) Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington D.C.; Member of the Board of Trustees, Tallahassee Church, Assistant Treasurer, Tallahassee Church; Member of Diabetes Advisory Board; Secretary and Co-founder of Bearers of the Cross, Inc.; and the former Administrative Assistant, Okmulgee Indian Health Center. He is a graduate of Sequoyah High School and Haskell Institute. He also attended Oklahoma State University, majoring in business administration. Mr. Berryhill resides in Okmulgee County, Ok.and has a son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons.
| Dining Out | Business | Movies | Focus | About Us |
| Church | Living Well | Memories | Outdoors | Real Estate | Student Scene | Travel |