Dr. Steve Nash, Assistant Professor of History at East Tennessee State University, will present a talk on the Freedmen’s Bureaus of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina at 2:00 on Sunday, August 12th in the community room of the Jonesborough Visitor’s Center. Sponsored by The Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, this talk will look at the complexities involved in ending slavery. When Abraham Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it did not immediately bring freedom to Southern Appalachia. Freedom for African Americans in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina came slowly as part of a long and diverse process in the South. One of the best sources on this process is the Freedmen's Bureau records, from which Dr. Nash draws heavily for his talk. These documents help illustrate the chaotic and bumpy transition from slavery in the war's immediate aftermath. The Heritage Alliance is proud to host Dr. Nash in conjunction with the Tennessee State Museum’s traveling exhibit, Common People in Uncommon Times: The Civil War in Tennessee, currently on display in the Jonesborough/Washington County History Museum. The exhibit is on display until the end of August.