Dorothy Powell Senior Center

In 1960, Dr. Pearl Mao Tang became chief of the Maricopa County Bureau of Maternal and Child Health. A Chinese American, who had fought to obtain a medical license in Arizona, Tang was instrumental in lowering the infant mortality rate in the state’s most populous county. Working in the Phoenix metropolitan area and rural Maricopa […]

A range of factors attracted the earliest Anglo women artists to Arizona. Some sought sanctuary and solitude in the state’s geologically impressive landscapes, while others sought solace in the vast, spirit-lifting vistas they encountered at every turn. Others found that encounters with Native Americans caused them to question long-held colonialist stereotypes of “the other.” Still […]

The life and music of an Arizona Legend! Lalo Guerrero, a Mexican American singer-songwriter from Tucson, is considered the Godfather of Chicano Music. He was a Grammy award winner and received the Presidential Medal of Honor for his contribution to Arts and Culture in the US by President Clinton. Join Zarco for a program about […]

This presentation discusses the significance of the American Southwest in the early 20th century when national attention shifted to the canyons and deserts of the American Southwest. Although American scientists, artists, writers, fur traders, and explorers had been visiting the Southwest since the early 19th century, the arrival of the railroads eased access which in […]

Most Arizonans are not originally from Arizona, and most come from places that are far greener and milder of climate than our desert. For many of us, it takes a shift of eye and of attitude to appreciate this hot, dry place—but once it gets into one’s soul, there’s nowhere like it. This talk explains […]

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 […]

Health care in early Arizona was hardly reliable and frequently nonexistent. Often, settlers were on their own when tragedy struck with women taking on the responsibility for the well-being of their families. And if women were considered incapable of earning the title “Doctor,” they could certainly save souls. Meet a handful of women who influenced […]