Friday, August 7, 2009

Lassoing young minds with Ourcourts.org


Great article on Sandra Day O'Connor in the Sunday, August 2, AZ Republic Viewpoints. Justice O'Connor has always championed education, wanting to "saddle up to help teach middle school kids about how their government works." Her life on the Lazy B Ranch gave her "lessons that inspired a lifetime of civic involvement and public service." Now she is working with Ourcourts.org to develop online lessons, games and history for teachers and students.

The Historical League has a summer project to do similar good works. Our volunteer staff is digitalizing the 55 Historymakers oral histories so they will be accessible on www.HistoricalLeague.org. This is part of the Legacy Project for the Arizona Historical Society to celebrate Arizona's Centennial. These oral histories are from Arizonans such as Erma Bombeck, Eddie Basha, Jerry Colangelo, Paul Fannin, Barry Goldwater, Esther Don Tang and Ed Mell. A complete list is on www.HistoricalLeague.org. The histories talk about their childhood, education, business and social and political life. You feel like you are sitting down talking with them over a cup of coffee . . . or glass of wine.

Love this photo of Sandra as a young girl on the ranch. Can you guess who is the other young man? . . . Barry Goldwater.