Arizona | Bob's World

Publicity material by Marty Taylor, University of Arizona Libraries

From the UA News Service:

UA Exhibition Reflects on Decades of Civil Rights in Tucson

Jan. 14, 2013

On Aug. 28, 1963, thousands were drawn to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to be part of what would become a historic event: the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

On a national level, the march spurred the passing of important civil rights legislation.

To honor that history, a new exhibition at the UA’s Special Collections will review how, 50 years later, the fight for civil rights has impacted local Tucson communities.

The exhibition, “50 Years: Civil Rights in Arizona from 1963 to Today,” is on display Jan. 15 through Aug. 31 at the UA Special Collections, 1510 E. University Blvd. The Special Collections exhibition focuses on national civil rights issues. A companion exhibition focusing on local civil rights will be on display in the UA Main Library during the same time period.

Highlights of the exhibit include national civil rights legislative documents from the Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Collections and from the Tucson Council for Civic Unity archive, which detail the council’s effort to end discrimination and segregation in Tucson and Arizona.

The exhibition also includes photographs and papers from civil rights groups and individuals representing the African American, Native American, Asian American, Mexican American and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities of Tucson. An audio kiosk with songs from the civil rights era is also part of the exhibition.

A lecture series featuring community leaders, UA scholars and local educators, will accompany the exhibition. All lectures take place at Special Collections and are free and open to the public. They are:

Jan. 15: “50 Years: Tucson’s African American Community will be held 7-9 p.m. A screening of the documentary film “In Their Own Words: The 1960s Civil Rights Movement in Tucson” and a panel discussion with Charles Ford, former Tucson Vice Mayor and retired Tucson Unified School District principal, and Cressworth Lander, anative Tucsonan and president of the Dunbar Coalition.
Feb. 12: “50 Years: Tucson’s Native American Community” will be held 4-6 p.m. A discussion about Arizona, the Supreme Court and legal cases affecting and involving tribal members law cases, Arizona during the civil rights era with Robert A. Williams, Jr., the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies at the UA James E. Rogers College of Law.
March 7: “50 Years: Tucson’s LGBTQ Community” will be held 7-9 p.m. A discussion with Adela Licona, an associate professor in the UA’s English department; Stephen Russell, who directs the Frances McClelland Institute; and Jamie Lee, a doctoral student in the UA School of Information Resources and Library Science.
April 29: “50 Years: Tucson’s Mexican American Community” is a discussion with Lupe Castillo, a faculty member at Pima Community College, and Margo Cowan, a Pima County public defender.

Contact: Bob Diaz, UA Special Collections, at 520-621‐7010 and diazj@u.library.arizona.edu.

Here is another overview of the exhibition and programs, from the February 21, 2013 issue of the Tucson Weekly. The exhibition and programs were The Weekly’s “Pick of the Week”.

50 Years Later, by Megan Merrimac.

For more information see: 50 Years Later, a “Pick of the week” article by Megan Merrimac that appeared in the Tucson Weekly on February 21, 2013.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Company-Town-poster.jpg — Company Town poster. Designed by Marty Taylor.

Company Town: Arizona’s Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood, was the first exhibit I curated completely on my own in my new job as exhibits and events coordinator in Special Collections at the University of Arizona. The exhibit was located in the Science-Engineering Library, in a much smaller exhibit space than the Special Collections gallery. It was a fun project and one I was very eager to work on. I enjoyed doing the research on mining in Arizona and found that Special Collections has a rich treasure trove of historical information on mining. In the exhibit, I featured information on Ajo, Globe-Miami, San Manuel Superior, Jerome, Bisbee, Clifton-Morenci, and Ray/Sonora, and included original photographs, books and other materials. I learned a lot from this project along the way. Feedback I was given included that I used way too much material and that I should not have used sticky dots on any of the materials. I also didn’t include enough written annotations. The Dean of the College of Mining wasn’t too happy either because I included a section on labor strife in Arizona. She even asked the University administration to intervene on her behalf to pressure me to remove the information on labor issues, but the Vice-Provost and the Dean of the Library defended my right to include “controversial” information in the exhibit. Below, I’ve included an article written by the UA News service, with links to further information, including a video of the exhibit and an article written for the Arizona Daily Star by Ernesto Portillo, Jr.. I also planned one program, a lecture by Dr. Anny Ochoa O’Leary. A news story and the transcript of her talk are linked below.

January 6, 2012: Exhibit – ‘Company Town: Arizona’s Copper Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood |UA News …

“Company Town: Arizona’s Copper Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood,” a new exhibit at the UA Science-Engineering Library, shares 100 years of stories, struggles and triumphs from Arizona’s copper mining communities.

The history of mining in Arizona is rich and colorful with silver, gold and copper all having been discovered and mined in the state. The first mining company was established in Ajo in the 1850s; the arrival of the railroad brought a booming industry to Clifton-Morenci, Bisbee and Jerome.

Throughout the 20th century, while mining companies made significant profits, the mining workers’ salary was often not a living wage. Conditions in the mines were dangerous and unhealthy; many miners developed a lung disease now referred to as “miner’s lung.” In this context, labor relations between workers and the mine owners throughout Arizona’s history have been volatile, and at times violent.

“Company Town” features an in-depth selection of photographs, pamphlets, original manuscripts, federal and state reports and personal papers drawn from UA Special Collections. The materials on display detail the history of eight Arizona mining communities – Ajo, Bisbee, Clifton-Morenci, Globe-Miami, Jerome, Ray-Sonora, San Manuel and Superior – and show that these communities were more than just a mine, and the people more than just mining workers.

One community in particular, Clifton-Morenci, was the epicenter of the Arizona copper mine strike of 1983. Anna Ochoa O’Leary, a professor in the UA department of Mexican American and Raza Studies, lived in Clifton during the strike and was the president of the Morenci Miners Women’s Auxiliary in Clifton from 1985 to 1986.