Lunch and Learn: Heroines Aplenty: Portrayals of Revolutionary-Era Women in Tennessee over the Years

Date and Time

• Thursday, Oct 15, 2026  12pm - 1pm

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This Lunch and Learn event with Dr. Antoinette G. van Zelm explores the ways that historians and other writers have depicted Revolutionary-era women who lived within the present-day borders of Tennessee between 1770 and 1810. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, Revolutionary-era Tennessee women were being lauded as “patriotic mothers” and “unsung heroines,” two interpretations that continued well into the twentieth century. With the new social history of the 1960s and ‘70s, greater attention to Native and African American women expanded the image of early Tennessee women. Ultimately, the woman who has received the most sophisticated analysis is Nan-ye-hi, or Nancy Ward, known as the “Beloved Woman” or the “War Woman of Chota.”