AZ Speaks

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Minister Malcolm X were both pivotal figures whose shoes have yet to be adequately filled by successors. Their voices were a clarion call to America to take note of the disparities faced by African Americans.  While their approaches to ameliorating these inequitable conditions were far from similar, they were […]

In 1864, the Navajo people were forced to walk over 450 miles to Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico, an unfortunate event that is known in the Navajo language as Hweeldi. The story of this fatal march has been recorded and interpreted in historical literature by many non-Navajo authors and absent from that literature is […]

Winnie Ruth Judd, Eva Dugan, Dr. Rose Boido, and Eva Wilbur Cruz shared one thing in common. All were incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison in Florence.  Some of their stories made national headlines. Who were they and how did they end up in the Florence prison? How did their crimes and trials impact Arizona? […]

The American Civil War resulted in the destruction of slavery in the United States, yet it is not always evident how this came about. People argue over who - or what - freed the slaves, the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation, and how the war itself contributed to the destruction of slavery. Perhaps it may […]

In 1933, at the nadir of the Great Depression, the CCC was born. The program was designed to help unemployed and untrained young men learn new skills and earn money to support their families. CCCers fervently claim that the skill-building experiences forever changed their lives. These men built the roads, trails, picnic areas, ranger stations, […]

During the Depression, the Federal Writers Project conducted interviews with over 144 women who arrived in the Arizona Territory between 1850 and 1890. The women spoke of their long and dangerous journeys and with their words paint pictures of the hardships and life-threatening situations of their frontier existence. Through hard work, dedication, tenacity, and humor, […]