Arizona Heritage Center

Existenceisillusion

Very nice staff, well organized. As one might imagine, quite a lot of information about the heritage of Arizona. The addition of the previously unseen McKenna photos was particularly nice.

Elliott Chee

Great place to learn and enjoy Az history. Clean and professional.

Cole Reitz

Pretty awsome place to go, i took my 6 year old here and he loved it. Lots of great history in this building. Staff was amazing as well.

Luis Ortiz

Was just there for the Juneteenth celebration. For a state that has existed for 120 years, in a country that forcefully took the land less than 170 years ago, you will be surprised to hear that Mexicans have not played a role (significant or otherwise) in AZ heritage before or since. However, you will find pictures of Mexican peasants running in the Mexican dessert to escape Mexico, several plaques mentioning “the Mexican problem”, and even a couple of installations speaking about how it ingenious the local population was in “discovering” techniques used my Mexican and indigenous people for hundreds of years. You will see statues of Mexican miners and indigenous people on their knees while white men stand in super hero poses behind them. Teddy Roosevelt is spoken in high regard without any mention of his manifest destiny initiatives and the impact it had on the Mexicans in the state. Franklin Roosevelt is called a hero without speaking of his Mexican Repatriation headquarters in the state. The Juneteenth talks started by having two doctors start a panel to discuss being anti-racist. They did so by mentioning that when they told their friends and family that they were moving to Arizona, that they reassured their friends the people here were good and “only hated Mexicans”- which got a roar of laughter from the black and white crowd alike. The next speaker came from ASU, where she was discussing her work recording the oral history of the people that lived here. Her slides showed prominent black and white leaders, an Asian family…and (of course) a mariachi. Assimilation isn’t anti-racism. Being palatable to white people doesn’t make you a valid speaker on anti-racism & gaining allies by joining the anti-Mexican sentiment of your neighbors doesn’t make you better than racists- it makes you one of them…but congratulations on being let into their museum for a day, cowards.