Along the California Trail with Jay Cravath

The Museum of Casa Grande 110 W. Florence Blvd, Casa Grande, AZ, United States

An ancient set of Indigenous paths and the natural flow of the Gila River created a major artery for travel through pioneer Arizona. The Gila provided a ready route for the earliest traders, including Toltecs of Mexico, who traded with the Mogollon, Anasazi and Hohokam. The intrepid Padre Francisco Garces, performed missionary work during six […]

FREE

The Underground and Overground Railroad with Tamika Sanders

Eloy Santa Cruz Library 1000 N. Main St., Eloy, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

Arizona Goes to the Movies: A Filmmaking History with Jim Turner

Superstition Mountain Museum 4087 N. Apache Trail, Apache Junction, AZ, United States

From Douglas Fairbanks filming in Nogales in 1917 to “How the West Was Won” statewide in 1963, the state of Arizona has always been a photogenic favorite for movie producers. The program looks from “Real to Reel” to see how Hollywood has affected popular views of Western settlement and continues to impact social interactions. The […]

FREE

Arizona v. the United States: Challenging the Constitution with Dr. Thomas J. Davis

Virtual AZ, United States

Comparatively young, Wild West, borderland that Arizona is with its rich indigenous heritage, pioneer, settler mentality, and fierce, independent spirit, the state has given rise to challenges that have shaped understanding of the US Constitution. For example, any reader or viewer of US police procedurals is familiar with Miranda v. Arizona (1966), treating the Fifth […]

FREE

From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers with Laura Tohe

Mohave Community College- Lake Havasu Campus- Building 200 Room 204 1977 Acoma Blvd, Lake Havasu City, AZ, United States

During WWII a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines without knowing that they would be called on to develop a secret code against the Japanese military. This select group of Code Talkers devised a Navajo language code that was accurate, quick, never broken, and saved many American lives. This talk profiles four […]

FREE

Climate Conversations – Legacy of Extraction: Abandoned Mines on the Navajo Nation with Arlyssa Becenti

Arizona Humanities 1242 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ, United States

Mining companies extracted millions of tons of uranium from the Navajo Nation between 1944 and 1986. Today hundreds of abandoned uranium mines litter the Navajo Nation. How have the Navajo people, land, and water suffered from exposure to these mines? Are people still at risk of radiation exposure? What is being done by the federal […]

FREE

Our River Stories: The Gila and the Salt with Zarco Guerrero

McFarland State Historic Park 24 W. Ruggles St, Florence, AZ, United States

Join Zarco for a series of stories that share the vibrant and tragic history of water and the River People, over a 2,000 year period. Beginning with the Toltec trade route that brought agriculture and corn to the Southwest. The history of the O’Odham before and after the expansion west is revealed. We learn about […]

FREE

The Underground and Overground Railroad with Dr. Tamika Sanders

Scottsdale Civic Center Library 3839 N Drinkwater Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

You Can’t Quit Being White: Arizona Territories Intriguing First Inter-Racial Marriage Trial with Bernard Wilson

Florence Community Library 778 N. Main St., Florence, AZ, United States

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court Case Loving vs. Virginia, the validity of an inter-racial marriage was dependent upon the state or territory a person lived. In the Arizona territories the laws governing miscegenation, or inter-racial marriage, focused on the prevention of creating mixed racial persons, rather than actual marital unions. In 1892, a couple […]

FREE

Writers of the Purple Sage with Jim Turner

Pima County Public Library - Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr. Branch 7800 N. Schisler Dr., Marana, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

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