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

Heroes Regional Park Library- Yucca Meeting Room 6075 N 83rd Avenue, Glendale

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

Deconstructing the Taco: The History and Lore of a Beloved Food with Gregory McNamee

Pima County Public Library - Salazar-Ajo Branch 15 W Plaza ST #179, Ajo, AZ, United States

The foods of Arizona speak to the many cultures, native and newcomer, that make up our state. 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 tortilla comes from Mexico, the cheese from the Sahara, the lettuce from […]

FREE

Southwestern Rock Calendars and Ancient Time Pieces with Allen Dart

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

Native Americans in the U.S. Southwest developed sophisticated skills in astronomy and predicting the seasons, centuries before non-Indian peoples entered the region. In this presentation archaeologist Allen Dart discusses the petroglyphs at Picture Rocks, the architecture of the “Great House” at Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins, and other archaeological evidence of ancient southwestern astronomy and calendrical […]

FREE

The Underground and Overground Railroad with Tamika Sanders

San Tan Library- Bronze Room 31505 N Schnepf Rd, San Tan Valley, 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

Growing in the Desert: The History & Culture of the Tohono O’odham with Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan

Fountain Hills Community Center 13001 N La Montana Dr, Fountain Hills, AZ, United States

Many Arizonans call the Sonoran Desert and its striking landscapes home. Long before our urban centers and city lights lit up the dark desert skies, the Tohono O’odham were cultivating and shaping the land with abundant agriculture—from squash and beans to corn and cotton. For generations they passed down their rich knowledge and culture grown […]

FREE

Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West with Betsy Fahlman

Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church 6502 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek, AZ, United States

Mining is the transformative industry of the American West—one that competes in scale and in color with the scenic landscape on its own terms, with the industrial sublime dynamically coexisting with the natural one. These landscapes are located at the bedrock of economic development—the risky speculation from which huge fortunes could be made and lost—and […]

FREE

Dia de los Muertos Storytelling with Zarco Guerrero

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

Dia de Los Muertos is a highly celebrated and significant holiday held throughout Mexico, Latin America and the Southwest. It is a day when homage is paid with prayers, offerings of food and the building of altars to those who have gone before us. Join Zarco and his unique masked characters as they celebrate Día […]

FREE

Chiles & Chocolate: Sweet and Spicy Foods in the American West with Chris Glenn and Sandy Sunseri

Holland Community Center 34250 N 60th St., Scottsdale, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

Assembling the Southwest: The History and Geography of a Region with Scott Warren

Pima County Public Library - Salazar-Ajo Branch 15 W Plaza ST #179, Ajo, AZ, United States

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 […]

FREE

The Underground and Overground Railroad with Tamika Sanders

Mohave County Library District - Lake Havasu City Branch Community Rooms A/B 1770 McCulloch Blvd, Lake Havasu City, 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

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