Essays

Look to California to Understand Jim Crow

The Violence Black Americans Face Today Is Rooted Everywhere—Including the Nation’s Most Progressive State

This essay was published alongside the Zócalo public program “How Does the Inland Empire Strike Back Against Hate?,” presented in partnership with California Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, United We Stand, UCR ARTS, and UCR College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Watch the event here.

For over 25 years I have asked my students in U.S. history courses the same questions about Jim Crow:

“Where does Jim Crow ‘live’?”

“When did it begin?”

“How does it work?”

Their answers almost always focus on Southern states. I have taught …

by Lynn M. Hudson |

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| Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Riding the Cablebús Over Mexico City

A New Gondola System Has Been a Game-Changer for Marginalized Neighborhoods. Will Tourism Ruin It?

by Natalia Escobar |

I’ve lived in Iztapalapa—Mexico City’s most populous borough, with over 1.8 million inhabitants—for the last 26 years. The borough is considered part of the “periphery” of Mexico City, …

A Baseball Umpire’s Guide to Neutrality

Be Invisible, Defuse Conflict, and Value Safety Above All Else

by Calvin Wells |

Can we, and should we, ever really be neutral? In a new series, Zócalo explores the idea of neutrality—in politics, sports, gender, journalism, international …

Can Living in History Bring Us Together?

The Work of a Historical Interpreter is More than Just Reenactment

by Megan Mateer |

It’s 7 a.m., and Crystal is getting ready for her day as a historical interpreter.

To begin the transformation, she puts on the period-appropriate dress she laid out the night before: …

Two men in diver's equipment in the ocean focused on removing corroded zinc anodes from an undersea cable.

Are Meta, Google, and Amazon the Sea Monsters of Oregon’s Coastline?

The State’s Ocean Floors Have Become a Fiber-Optic Cable Hotspot—And It’s Altering the Ecosystem

by Hayley Brazier |

In 2020, Edge Cable Holdings, a Facebook subsidiary, was burying a new fiber-optic cable into the seabed near Tierra Del Mar, Oregon. Working beneath a rugged mixture of basalt rock …

A hand holds a polaroid picture of Vancouver, which looks bright with green hills and mountains. Behind the polaroid, the rest of the Vancouver landscape is visible. It is darker, with the city and mountains lit in orange and red.

An Elegy for Vancouver Summer

Rising Temperatures and Raging Wildfires Have Me Dreading My Favorite Season—And Mourning the Splendid Days of My Childhood

by Paloma Pacheco |

Last summer was my first in my new apartment. I’d moved into the building in the fall, several weeks into a cool Vancouver November. The trees were bare, and our …


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