AZ Speaks

Our region is a diverse and contrasting patchwork of cultures, resources, and environments. So how did the Southwest and its cultural and natural icons become so distinctive in our collective imagination? In this richly illustrated presentation we will pull from the broad discipline of cultural geography to explore the historical processes that made the Southwest […]

Using storytelling, historical artifacts and songs, this presentation will depict the ingenuity and resiliency used by those involved in the Underground Railroad to help over 100,000 enslaved people escape to freedom between 1810 and 1850. We’ll then fast forward to the Jim Crow era and explore the Overground Railroad created by the Green Book which […]

Drawing from multi-cultural influences of the variety of people who helped build Arizona, discover how creative adaptations in lifestyle, architecture, building materials, town planning and even humor all contributed to surviving intense desert temperatures. What have we forgotten and what can we learn from the wisdom of those who came before as climate becomes a […]

In addition to an entertaining, visual display of the communities, towns and settlements that contributed to the early growth of the state, this presentation also focuses on respect for these diminishing historic resources. Most of the photographs represent a comprehensive exploration of Arizona ghost towns made by Mr. Mark in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This […]

Come have a taste of the rich and savory history of these food favorites, explore how early peoples used them, and how they have evolved and spread to all corners of the world. Food is a portal into culture and can convey a range of cultural meaning including occasion, social status, ethnicity, and wealth depending […]

This visual presentation shows how Indigenous American women have contributed service to Arizona and the US, yet were stereotyped in films and remain invisible in the media. Nevertheless, they have been honored in all areas of public service—law, medicine, literature, military and activism with awards such as, the Presidential Freedom, the McArthur (genius award), the […]

What can we do to enhance quality of life? What can we do to sharpen cognitive capability and function, cope, and age better? Music Therapy has a long tradition, and the range of effective music-related therapies for pain relief and healing injuries are still growing. Studies that confirm music’s range of benefits appear in scientific […]

This presentation covers five Arizona novelists: Zane Grey spent his honeymoon at the Grand Canyon and went on to be one of the first and most famous Western writers of all time; Harold Bell Wright came to Tucson with lung problems and became a bestseller from 1900 to 1930. University of Arizona writing professor Richard […]

Besides Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley, any Western women come to mind? Probably not—not because they weren’t just as important to settling the West, but because history was so focused on the goons and gunfighters, it forgot the women. So it’s a surprise that a 16 year-old Shoshone girl from Dakota Territory named Sacagawea would […]