1. About
  2. Civil Rights

More Civil Rights Stories

The Arizona State Capitol Executive Tower in Phoenix. January 2021.

Hobbs signs executive orders protecting and expanding access for LGBTQ+ Arizonans

The two executive orders will bar state resources from being used to support conversion therapy and protect access to gender-affirming care for state employees.
Sierra Vista celebrated Juneteenth with dancing and musical performances by TUNESMITH. June 19, 2023.

Sierra Vista Celebrates Juneteenth

The 8th annual event was hosted by the Sierra Vista African American Community Coalition

Breaking Barriers: how Tucson's Juneteenth created community since before statehood

As Tucson's official Juneteenth festival marks 53 years, historians look back on a celebration that dates back to the late 1800s.
University associate professor and author, Tim Z. Hernandez, visits the headstone in Fresno where most of the 1948 airplane crash victims were buried.

Airplane Crash from 1948 is Revisited and Researched

A professor and author is trying to find the families of all 32 victims.
Synthia L. Hardy as Billie Holiday in her play "Billie! Backstage with Lady Day".

"Billie! Backstage with Lady Day" at Invisible Theatre.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Revisiting a cookbook that represents Tucson's Black community; remembering the last of the Universal Monster performers, Ricou Browning; and a poem about what a kit a cat can be by Rick Wamer.
Dorothy Tompkins

Meet a Sierra Vista civil rights pioneer

For Dorothy Coston-Tompkins, it’s about service, investing in people, and creating spaces and opportunities for everyone to have their voices heard.
The dome atop the Arizona Capitol Museum at the State Capitol in Phoenix. January 2021.

Transgender youth face fewer rights in the new year

The new laws will take affect Jan. 1 and include restrictions on issues like gender-affirming care.
Yamiche Alcindor, NBC News Washington correspondent and host of Washington Week on PBS, received the 2022 Zenger Award for Press Freedom from the University of Arizona School of Journalism on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

Yamiche Alcindor receives the 2022 Zenger Award for Press Freedom from the UA School of Journalism.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Adiba Nelson talks with the founders of the new African American Museum of Southern Arizona at the University of Arizona
Bill Kugelman, 97, views an exhibit at the Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center. Kugelman is a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Local Holocaust survivors share their message for the next generation

Also on Arizona Spotlight: A conversation with the director of Arizona Theatre Company's "Nina Simone: 4 Women"; and conversations with Pam Fessler and Henry Barajas, who will be featured at the Tucson Festival of Books.
Cary Elwes was 24-years-old when he was cast in his first leading role, as Westley in the 1987 adaptation of William Goldman's novel "The Princess Bride".

Return to "The Princess Bride" 35 years later, with actor Cary Elwes.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Adiba Nelson leads a roundtable discussion with three Black women artists, and "Stories That Soar!" tells of a boy's difficult journey to see his father.
The radio station in the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's reservation, which formerly housed the tribe's early voting site.

Legal settlement is a win for Pascua Yaqui voting rights.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Understanding Lewy Body Dementia; and remembering NPR broadcaster Neal Conan through his love of comic books.
The 2021 NPR Student Podcast Challenge logo.

The NPR Student Podcast Challenge searches for the voices of tomorrow.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Brenna Wynn Greer follows the history of Black image makers in her book "Represented"; and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks reflects on her novel of life during the bubonic plague, called "Year of Wonders".
U.S. Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Supreme Court likely to uphold Arizona voting restrictions

Conservative majority suggest they would throw out an appellate ruling that struck down the restrictions as racially discriminatory
File image shows a closeup of a hair stylist cutting a customer's hair.

Tucson may ban hair discrimination

CROWN Act will weave respect for natural hairstyles into city law.
Rosa Parks is most famous for her peaceful protest on a Montgomery, Alabama bus on December 1st, 1955. This staged photo was taken later.

"Who Framed Rosa Parks?" - Brenna Wynn Greer on the history of Black imagemakers.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Geraldine Brooks reflects on her novel "Year of Wonders"; and a tale of love and loss written by a 6th grade student.
The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona provides food to about 200,000 people each year.

Rights advocates applaud Biden's planned review of public charge rule

The 2019 change made it harder for immigrants to obtain visas and green cards if they used, or might use, government assistance

Selected Archive Filters

Civil Rights
Back to Top
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona