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South Phoenix History

What we know

How we learned it

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Here’s How it Started

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Origins of The South Phoenix Oral History Project

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Research 101

First-hand accounts or memories about an event, time, or person

Primary Source

Scholarly accounts written after the fact about an event, time, or person

Secondary Source

Second-hand analysis of the secondary and primary sources

Synthesis

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Research 101: Secondary Sources

Definitive Texts on Phoenix History:

Luckingham, Whitaker, Talton

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Research 101: Primary Sources

Formal

City Reports | Newspapers | Exhibits

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Research 101: Primary Sources

Personal

Photographs | Letters | Diaries |Private Records | Individual Memories

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Where is South Phoenix?

There’s a lot of history here.

Why isn’t it documented in formal scholarship?

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“I don’t think we can do this.”

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“If not us, then who?”

Priority 1: Set Mission and Priorities

Priority 2: Call to Action. “It’s Time for Us”

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Mission and Priorities

Mission: “A student-led initiative to capture and preserve the history of South Phoenix and South Mountain Community College”

Priorities:

Inclusively reclaim and accurately retell the ignored history of South Phoenix
Curate and preserve historical materials for students and community access
Emphasize shared authority among campus and community

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“It’s Time for Us”

Student-led. �Student-driven. Student-researched. Student-published. Student-sustaining.

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South Phoenix Oral History Project

Started with 12 students - now, more than 250 have contributed in one way or another.
Started with 6 interviews - now, more than 100 people have been interviewed. Students research, write, and ask the questions. Students analyze interviews for web publication and future research.
Started with an problem - now, it is an award-winning physical and digital community archive, emphasizing shared authority with the community we research.

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Shared Authority in Oral History

Researcher shares authorship with those who taught them the history

Narrator is the “first author” of their story

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Shared Authority in the

South Phoenix Oral History Project

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“Down There”

What we’ve learned: South Phoenix History

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Where is South Phoenix in Geography?

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Boundaries: Major Geography

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Boundaries: Major Infrastructure

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South Phoenix or South Mountain Village?

South Phoenix

“South of…”
Includes parts of Laveen, Guadalupe, Ahwatukee, Central City, Grant Park, Eastlake, others
Encompasses shared history and culture throughout historic neighborhoods and barrios
Casual

South Mountain Village

Distinct boundaries
Defined separately from all other neighborhoods
Attempts to distinguish the agrarian and equestrian history from the urban experience
Formal

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Where is South Phoenix in History?

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Territorial: 1880s-1912

Phoenix township

Railroad completed from Maricopa Wells

First Racial Housing Restrictions

First racist housing covenants and segregation in schools

Major flooding of the Salt River

Impacts on South Phoenix:

Separation of races: White movement north, restriction of resources

Mexican and Black settlements further south in “The County”

1891 Flood South Mountain in the distance, Phoenix Public Library

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Prewar: 1912-1945

Land speculation and sales in South Phoenix

Ranching

Canal development

South Mountain Preserve

Impacts on South Phoenix:

Property available to Black and Hispanic buyers

Jobs

Infrastructure (schools, roads, bridges)

1939 Tovrea Stockyards, S'edav Va'aki Museum

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Postwar: 1945-1970s

Increased migration to Phoenix

Japanese internment ends

GI Bill & Suburbanization

Impacts on South Phoenix �Asian, Black, and Chicano - led initiatives, self-reliance, community formation

Williams & Jones Construction Co, 1958.

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Late 20th Century: 1970s-2000

Rapid growth

Rural -> Urban

Community-led initiatives to modernize South Phoenix

Infrastructure Improvements
Commercial, Residential Development
Hospital
Higher Education

1980. South Mountain Community College Groundbreaking, SPOH

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21st Century: Gentrification and Perseverance

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“Up Here”

Work completed and in progress

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Status: Completed

250+ Students
100+ narrators, most profiles can be found at southphoenixoralhistory.com
Nearly 500 hours of recorded interviews
50 Years of documents archived and indexed
Syntheses abound!

For example…

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^ Our website!

Southphoenixoralhistory.com

Student-written biographical stories
Multimedia - clips from interviews
Posts about South Phoenix history, oral history, local archiving
Photographs of South Phoenix

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Documentary:

Humble Origins, �Heroic Legacy

Celebrating the story of South Mountain Community College

Directed by Travis May, Ed.D.

Narrated by Liz Warren, M.A.

Researched by students at South Mountain Community College

https://southphoenixoralhistory.com/2021/01/27/origins/

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Article:

A College “Down There”

Resistance, Community Control, and Higher Education in

South Phoenix, �1977‒1981

South Mountain Community College Aerial, August 1981. �(Image provided by South Mountain Community College, South Phoenix Oral History Project)

By Summer Cherland, PhD

Journal of Arizona History Spring 2022

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/852647

https://southphoenixoralhistory.com/2022/07/11/ask-the-author-series/

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Article:

“I Hope to be Part of South Phoenix History”: Community College Students Becoming Oral Historians

Ivonne Godinez unexpectedly discovering an article about her mother in the SPOH archive �2019. IvonneGodinez With Newspaper, Image provided by SPOH

By Ele Anedda, MA

Oral History Review, Volume 50, 2023 - Issue 1

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00940798.2023.2179408?role=tab&scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=uohr20

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Manuscript:

Student-Centered Oral History: An Ethical Guide

X Beasley interviewing Mr. Maurice Ward, 2023.�(Image provided by South Mountain Community College, South Phoenix Oral History Project)

By Summer Cherland, PhD

Routledge, forthcoming (2024)

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I asked you:

What changes have you seen in South Phoenix? And, what do you wish you knew about our community?

Knowing about our community and our history can empower you to do great work. And the changes you’ve seen to South Phoenix are not new. In the 1980s and 1990s, SMCC was seen as a spark to ignite development in South Phoenix. And it appears to be the case! Development in the community has exploded.

First, there were bus tours conducted by our founding president, Dr. Raul Cardenas. Every fall, Dr. Cardenas would charter a bus. The faculty and staff would load up onto the buses and take a driving tour of South Phoenix. Many of us are from here, but many of us drive in. Regardless, imagine what you might understand or know of your students if you spent an hour or two seeing the neighborhoods from where they drive, walk, or take the bus to get to our college.

The tours were so popular that, in the 1990s, Judge Cody Williams - then a Councilman - took developers on similar tours of the community. Through these tours, Councilman Williams helped to convince major financiers to invest in South Phoenix development, like the Fry’s marketplace where so many of our students work, eat, and hang out in between classes.

So in closing, I wanted to float an idea by all of you. How many of you would be interested in taking a tour of South Phoenix next semester? I would make the arrangements, you would just need to sign up, ride along, and learn. Can I get an idea of interest?

(Ask for Bernice/President to endorse)

How do we know about the geographical boundaries of South Phoenix? We’re conducting a massive research project with students, geographers, urban designers, and you! Take the survey to help inform us.

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Podcast:

South Phoenix Oral History Project

(Rebranded: Formerly the More and More Every Day Podcast)

Season 1: Interviews with students and teachers in the first days of COVID19

Season 2: Oral History Daily Challenge

Season 3: Where is South Phoenix?

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Driving Tour:

Historic South Phoenix

History | Diversity | Opportunity

18 stops

30 miles

Ancient to present day

Southphoenixoralhistory.com click “Driving Tour of Historic South Phoenix”

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Walking Tour:

Historic SMCC

History | Diversity | Opportunity

8 stops

1 hour

Ancient to present-day

https://southphoenixoralhistory.com/historic-walking-tour-of-smcc/

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Status: In Progress

More students every year!
Ongoing oral histories - we will interview you!
Preservation and publication of South Phoenix history despite gentrification
Community history collection at South Mountain (Opening in the SMCL November 2023)
Campus and community buy-in

High Schooler Sophia Pina archiving in the Community History Collection, Summer 2023

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Manuscript:

South Phoenix: �Images of America

By Summer Cherland, PhD

Arcadia Press, �(forthcoming, 2025)

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History Room

at South Mountain: archive for students and community at SMCL

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Access and Preservation

Then (2019) and Now (2024)

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It comes down to this:�

“Community college students, arguably from the most historically disenfranchised neighborhoods of Phoenix, are doing professional, graduate-level research… and doing it well.”�

~League of Innovation Award, 2022

Dr. Cherland with Hope Wilkinson, Graduation 2023

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We need your help!

Tell Your Story

Interviews

Materials (newspapers, photographs, manuscripts documenting your experiences living and working in South Phoenix)

Support the Work

Visit the Archive

Take a Tour

Check out our Website

Make a Donation

Connect us with Others

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southphoenixoralhistory.com

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References

Cherland, Summer. "A College “Down There”: Resistance, Community Control, and Higher Education in South Phoenix, 1977–1981." Journal of Arizona History, vol. 63 no. 1, 2022, p. 35-73. Project MUSE https://muse.jhu.edu/article/852647.

“SOUTH PHOENIX AND SMCC MEMORIES,” South Phoenix Oral History. https://southphoenixoralhistory.com/narrators/

“HUMBLE ORIGINS HEROIC LEGACY: Celebrating Forty Years of South Mountain Community College.” Directed by Travis May, South Phoenix Oral History Project. (2019). https://southphoenixoralhistory.com/2021/01/27/humble-origins-heroic-legacy/

Contact Us

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Questions/Discussion