Ancient Indian pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (symbols carved or pecked on rocks) are claimed by some to be forms of writing for which meanings are known. However, are such claims supported by archaeology or by Native Americans themselves? Mr. Dart illustrates southwestern petroglyphs and pictographs, and discusses how even the same rock art symbol […]

Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, is the surprising site of a remarkable story of African American art during World War II. Central to the chronicle is Arizona painter Lew Davis. The base was home to two black divisions, and Davis painted murals for the two segregated officers’ clubs. For the black officers’ club, Davis produced […]

The Nazis in Germany committed the worst crimes against humanity in world history. The Holocaust will remain in our collective memory and reminds us constantly of the profound dangers that threaten modern society.  Democracy is a fragile construct. This presentation analyzes the causes and conditions for the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and traces […]

In many Southwestern matrifocal cultures, Indigenous women’s lives are modeled after female heroes and sacred women who exemplify and express courage and kinship values. Among some tribal cultures, rites of passage celebrate female creativity and the transformative nature of women, hence there was not a need for the concept of feminism. Nevertheless, Indigenous women’s lives […]

Arizona played a key role in preparing to send humans to the moon in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The Apollo astronauts themselves traveled to the Grand Canyon and volcanic fields around the state to learn geology and practice their lunar excursions. Meanwhile, U.S. Geological Survey engineers worked with NASA staff members to develop and test […]

Whether or not you grew up when Western films competed favorably with the popular films of the day, you will definitely want to take yourself back in time to hear the music that made cowboy legends out of the Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Jimmy Wakely and so many other Western singers. […]

It has been thought that the Apache do not become Apache until the adoption of the horse, which triggered the raiding adaptation. While horses played a central role in the Apachean world, the horse divide is not as pronounced as thought. Horses changed the ancestral Apache lifeway and horses survived and thrived without European horse […]