How I Learned English

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

Learning English as a second language comes with a lot of baggage. It’s not just “i” before “e” except after “c.” Influences include family, economics, culture, immigration, geography, politics, the law, and education. This presentation focuses on the different ways people learn English. Surprisingly, most people surveyed, learned English by simply being tossed into the […]

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

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

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

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

Native in a Strange Land: The Life of Mike Burns, Indian Scout and Autobiographer

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

Mike Burns lived a long life in two worlds. Born in about 1862 into the Kwevkepaya (Yavapai) people, he was taken prisoner by U.S. soldiers after his family was massacred at a place called Skeleton Cave. He lived for years as something between a captive and a servant until joining the Indian Scouts, riding against […]

Free

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