Is Arizona erasing Black history? These leaders say contributions 'systemically oppressed'
Arizona has a long, diverse and rich history of African American stories.
The first recorded Black resident of Phoenix was Mary Green in 1868 — just four years after Arizona became a territory of the United States. Mary was a domestic servant to former Confederate officer Columbus Gray. She, along with her two children, traveled with the Grays from Arkansas.
Fast forward to today, more than 318,000 Black people call Arizona home.
Community leaders and activists say the contributions and stories of Black Arizonans have been either underacknowledged or outright erased from Arizona’s story. What's more, Arizona Black history is rarely taught in schools. Why is that?
It's a question the Valley 101 podcast team has been thinking about for some time. And in this episode, we sit down with community leaders to get their perspective on this issue.
Four Arizonans sat down to discuss why the state doesn't do better when it comes to preserving and sharing local Black history.
On the panel are Pastor Warren Stewart, senior pastor at the historic First Institutional Baptist Church in downtown Phoenix. He has been a part of Arizona for nearly 50 years and was instrumental in helping the state adopt Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Channel Powe, an education, political and equity consultant. Originally from Detroit, she moved to Arizona as a young girl. For over a decade, she has served as an outspoken champion for communities, public schools, families and children.
Anthony Pratcher II, an Arizona native who grew up in the Valley. He is a historian based at Northern Arizona University where he teaches ethnic studies. Prior to that, he taught at Arizona State University in the Barrett Honors College and at Carnegie Mellon University and Brown University.
And Jessica Salow, an assistant archivist of Black Collections at the ASU Library. Before her current role, she was a specialist with the Community-Driven Archives (CDA) Initiative at ASU Library.
Listen to the episode
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