Women of the West: Untold Stories from American History with Jana Bommersbach

Safford City - Graham County Library 808 S. 7th Ave, Safford

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 […]

FREE

Women’s Resilience and Survival in the Holocaust with Bjorn Krondorfer

Mesa Public Libraries - Main Branch - Saguaro Room --- 64 E. 1st St., Mesa, AZ, 85201 64 E. 1st Street, Mesa, AZ, United States

This talk will trace the lives of two women Holocaust survivors who both grew up in traditional Jewish families in Bedzin, Poland and later became residents of Arizona: Jane Lipski (Tucson) and Doris Martin (Flagstaff). They managed to survive the Nazi onslaught as adolescent girls. While Jane was able to escape the ghetto and join […]

FREE

They Beat the Heat: How Arizonans Survived the Desert Heat in the Days Before Air Conditioning with Christine Reid

Pueble Room, Monte Vista Village 8865 E. Baseline Road, Mesa, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

The Grimms’ Fairy Tales with Dr. Albrecht Classen

Mohave Community College - Bullhead City Hargrove Library 3400 HWY 95 - 700 Building, Bullhead City, AZ, United States

No other collection of fairy tales has enjoyed such a popularity all over the world as the one by the Brothers Grimm. They were not newly composed by these two philologists, but collected from oral and written sources. Since the first anthology was published in 1812, the Grimms’ Fairy Tales have enjoyed a global success. […]

FREE

Following the Bugle: Military Wives on the Arizona Frontier with Jan Cleere

Pima County Public Library - Dunsberry Library 5605 E. River Rd., Ste. 105, Tucson, AZ, United States

When the US Army ordered troops into Arizona Territory in the 19th century to protect and defend newly established settlements, military men often brought their wives and families. Most of the women were from refined, eastern-bred families with little knowledge of the territory. Their letters, diaries, and journals from their years on army posts reveal […]

FREE

Water in the Southwest: Where Have We Been, and Where Are We Going? with Jennifer Richter

Mesquite Branch - Phoenix Public Library 4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N, Phoenix, AZ, United States

It has been said that “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.” This is especially true of water politics in the American Southwest, a region defined by its lack of water. The massive 20th century federal investments into dam systems controlled the great rivers of the West, allowing cities like Phoenix to “bloom like […]

FREE

Where Do Landfills Go?: A History of Environmental Justice with Dr. Matthew Whitaker

Coolidge Public Library 160 W. Central Avenue, Coolidge, AZ, United States

Where do we dump our toxic waste? Where do we bury contaminated soil? Where do we put our industrial waste facilities? Hazardous sites are most frequently placed near Black and brown neighborhoods. Environmental pollution, whether dirty air or contaminated water, has disproportionately impacted communities of color for decades. Years of governmental support for housing discrimination […]

FREE

Caretakers of the Land: A Story of Farming and Community in San Xavier with Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan

Pima County Public Library - Dusenberry-River 5605 E. River Rd., Ste 105, Tucson, AZ, United States

Farming has always been the way of life for the Tohono O’odham community in San Xavier, located just south of Tucson. Their way of life depended on access to the land and to the water, namely the Santa Cruz River, which nourished agriculture in the area for generations. But a history of division sown through […]

FREE

Miners,Cowboys and Washerwomen: the Work Songs of Arizona with Jay Cravath

Cochise College Downtown Center 2600 E Wilcox Dr, Sierra Vista

In a lively and entertaining portrait of working class music, Dr. Cravath explores its roots and rhythms. From the cottonfields of Chandler to the crooked streets of Jerome, songs were companions to the immigrants who explored and built our state. Through performance and discussion, this subject, which reveals so much of the nature and character […]

FREE

Black Woman Rising: African American Community Mothers in Phoenix with Akua Duku Anokye

Virtual AZ, United States

African American women have had a tremendous impact on the lives of Arizonans. In a project I’ve been working on for the past 20 years, I have had the privilege of interviewing some of these amazing women. I call them othermothers/community mothers–these social activist who emerged from the Black woman-centered network of community. Let me […]

FREE

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