A Story, A Story: African and African American Oral Tradition and Storytelling

Copper Queen Library 6 Main St., Bisbee, AZ, United States

When the African slave was brought to the Caribbean and North and South America, s/he brought her oral literature and performance style. This presentation focuses on the transfer of those oral traditions from African culture to African American culture. Such traditions can be heard in trickster stories, but also observed in the narration of myths, […]

Free

Desperado Trails: Outlaws on the Arizona Frontier

Joel D. Valdez Main Library 101 N. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ, United States

Hang on to your hats as you ride the trails beside some of Arizona’s most wicked renegades during a time when massacres, mayhem and mischief ran rampant throughout Arizona Territory. Learn the sordid details of desperadoes such as cattle/horse rustler and murderer Augustine Chacon who claimed he killed over fifty men, ladies-man Buckskin Frank Leslie […]

Free

World War I in the Middle East: Roots of Contemporary Conflict

The Arizona Senior Academy 13715 E. Langtry Lane, Tucson, AZ, United States

Although World War I began 100 years ago, its effects are still evident in the Middle East today. The war ended the Ottoman Empire and created new states, yet the peace settlements left many Middle Eastern people dissatisfied. The treaties left millions of Kurds without a country, Arab lands divided into various British and French […]

Free

How Wild Was It? Crime and Justice in Arizona Territory

Copper Queen Library 6 Main St., Bisbee, AZ, United States

Arizona’s territorial era has the reputation of being a violent and crime-ridden place with ineffective criminal justice institutions. This presentation provides an overview of crime and justice in Arizona Territory. Based on data from court cases and newspapers, it describes the types of crimes most commonly committed and the justice system’s response to them. Contrary […]

Free

Saving the Great American West: The Story of George Bird Grinnell

Copper Queen Library 6 Main St., Bisbee, AZ, United States

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes. Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.” Grinnell […]

Free

Arts & Culture of Ancient Southern Arizona Hohokam Indians

Colossal Cave Mountain Park 16721 E. Old Spanish Trail, Vail, AZ, United States

The Hohokam archaeological culture flourished in southern Arizona as early as the sixth century. Hohokam artifacts, architecture, and other material culture provide clues allowing archaeologists to identify where the Hohokam lived, interpret how they adapted to the Sonoran Desert for centuries, and explain why their culture collapsed in the mid-1400s. This presentation illustrates Hohokam material […]

Free

The Creation of the American Southwest, 1750-1950

Copper Queen Library 6 Main St., Bisbee, AZ, United States

Gratton uses unique census data, images, and maps to reveal the historical experience of Indians, Hispanics, other Americans, and immigrants in the region we call the American Southwest. Before the Mexican American War, the region was dominated by indigenous nations. Migrants from other parts of the United States and European immigrants sparked a rapid growth […]

Free

Saving the Great American West: The Story of George Bird Grinnell with Hugh Grinnell

The Arizona Senior Academy 13715 E. Langtry Lane, Tucson, AZ, United States

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes. Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.” Grinnell […]

Free

Steam and Steel Rails: The Arrival of the Railroad and Its Impact on Arizona

The Arizona Senior Academy 13715 E. Langtry Lane, Tucson, AZ, United States

The building of the railroad across Arizona in 1879-1880 was a wonder of technology and human will. It created a series of small communities linked by their role in supporting that technology and the initiatives behind it. Overnight it transformed southern Arizona, including Vail, whose story resonates with many other southern Arizona communities. Business and […]

Free

Food History of the Southwest with Gregory McNamee

Raul M. Grijalva Canoa Ranch Conservation Park, Grain Room 5375 S. I-19 Frontage Rd., Green Valley, AZ, United States

This program is part of KICK IN for Anza at Canoa Ranch, a grant project funded in part by Arizona Humnanities. Click here for more information and full schedule. Consider the taco, that favorite treat, a staple of Mexican and Mexican American cooking and an old standby on an Arizonan’s plate. The corn in the […]

Free

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