The Slideshow That Kept Oil Drills Out of the Arctic National Refuge

The Last Great Wilderness Helped Earn a Grassroots Victory for Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice

The story seems impossible to believe: A low-budget traveling slideshow kept oil drills out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But Indigenous leaders from the Arctic, environmental advocates on Capitol Hill, and grassroots activists across the United States all insist it’s true.

If you haven’t heard of The Last Great Wilderness, you’re not alone. During its many years on the road, the multimedia slideshow was not covered by the national media. Its photographs never became iconic. The people behind it remain unsung. And yet this humble work of activism, shared in …

Iran’s New Revolutionary Figure Is Feminist | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Iran’s New Revolutionary Figure Is Feminist

The Women at the Heart of the Movement Offer Potent Visions of Social Change

The feminist uprising in Iran—sparked by the beating, arrest, and death in police custody of Mahsa (also known by Jîna) Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman accused of “improper hijab”—is …

Beyoncé’s Dance Floor Liberation | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Beyoncé’s Dance Floor Liberation

From the Golden Age of House to ‘Break My Soul,’ Black Divas Continue to Lift Us Up in Hard Times

I can very clearly remember in 1993 the first time I heard Robin S.’s “Show Me Love.” I felt moved.

It wasn’t just me. The infectious groove and Black gospel diva …

Nobuko Miyamoto and the 120,000 Stories of Japanese America | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Nobuko Miyamoto and the 120,000 Stories of Japanese America

Melding Art, Culture, and Politics, the Feminist Troubadour Helps a New Generation Reimagine Itself

Since the 1970s, Japanese Americans have observed the Day of Remembrance on February 19, the anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066 that authorized the forced removal …

Activist-Scholar Catherine Garoupa White

I Have So Many Fond Memories Around Madera County

Catherine Garoupa White is the executive director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, working to restore clean air to the San Joaquin Valley. They also teach at CSU Stanislaus …

Why Divestment Defeated Apartheid and How It Might Help Beat Climate Change

The Money Didn’t Matter. The Movement Did

The environmental activist and writer Bill McKibben estimates that climate divestment—the movement to pressure universities, churches, and other institutions to stop investing in, and thus profiting from, carbon-emitting companies—has removed …