When the World Came to Knoxville

On our fourth and final episode, Ernie Freeberg talks with Dr. Chad Black, a UT professor of Latin American history, about an exhibition that the country of Peru staged, one that drew both a fascinated audience and significant controversy.

As Knoxville celebrates the 40th anniversary of the 1982 World’s Fair, WUOT is airing a series of podcasts on the history and legacy of the fair. This week, in our third episode, UT History professor Ernie Freeberg explores the most visible remnant of the event, the Sunsphere. Architectural historian George Dodds and others shed light on Knoxville's most visible landmark.

UT History professor Ernie Freeberg speaks with UT historian Dr. Shellen Wu, a specialist in modern Chinese history. She helps us understand the origin and legacy of the fair’s most popular exhibit, the pavilion hosted by the People’s Republic of China. Promoters of the fair liked to claim that history was being made in Tennessee—and in the case of the China pavilion, they delivered on that promise.

In our first episode, UT History professor Ernie Freeberg speaks with historian Michael Camp, who has written a book on energy policy in the 1970s and 80s. Camp says that the long lines at the gas pumps caused by the energy crisis of 1973/74 set the stage for the Carter administration’s focus on energy conservation—and inspired its support for Knoxville’s proposal to host an international energy exposition almost a decade later.