As the community explores The Grapes of Wrath for The Big
Read, themes of the government's role in the plight of struggling and
impoverished people emerge. What was our government's response in this
devastating era and was it the right one? The New Deal is often credited
with helping restore our economy. Nowhere was the New Deal more evident than
in the Tennessee Valley with TVA.
Please join YWCA and Knox County Public Library in a rare screening of Ross
Spears's 1983 documentary The Electric Valley on Tuesday, October 21, 7 p.m.
at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street. Wilma Dykeman
narrates the film with appearances by Al Gore Sr., David Lillenthal, Arthur
Morgan and others who were directly involved in the agency's creation.
The Electric Valley is the first independent film to tell the story of the
TVA and is a tale of one of the most interesting, controversial federal
agencies ever created. In 1933, the TVA was given the broadest possible
mission: to tame the forces of nature, create cheap energy, and produce a
lasting prosperity in the Depression-wracked Tennessee Valley, a region the
size of Great Britain. For better or worse, it touched peoples' lives in
innumerable ways.
The Electric Valley is both political parable and human drama; it is a
narrative journey through fifty years of American history with this
controversial institution as its focus. The film explores both the issues
and the people who give these issues their power and poignance. Indeed, The
Electric Valley puts a human face on one of the most remarkable institutions
of our time. In the present era of economic-environmental-energy crisis, the TVA
story is more interesting and valuable than ever.
The event is free and open to the public.
Other events for The Big Read include a nature walk sponsored by Ijams
Nature Center on Sunday, Oct. 26, a screening of the movie The Grapes of
Wrath on Tuesday, Oct. 28, and multiple discussion groups at venues around
town. A full schedule of events is available on www.knoxlib.org
The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in
partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts
Midwest. Locally, the month long program is presented by YWCA Knoxville and
the Knox County Public Library with support from Friends of the Library,
Knoxville News Sentinel, WUOT 91.9, Comcast, and many community partners.
