Speak Your Piece: a podcast about Utah's history

Podcast Intro: Dr. Martha Sontag Bradley Evans (University of Utah, Dean of Undergraduate Studies) introduced her book Pedestals & Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority & Equal Rights (Signature Books, 2005) by telling her readers how in 1977, as young mother of three, she "bumped into the women’s movement.” Which made all the difference in her life, both as woman and as scholar, w...

Podcast Introduction: This episode includes William  W. Tanner, the publisher of the Sons of Utah Pioneer’s (SUP) magazine; Wayne Hinton, the organization’s 2020 national president; and Thomas Alexander, the 2015 national president, all engaged in a discussion with Speak Your Piece host Brad Westwood, about this all-male Utah history organization: its origins, it’s membership (today you do not nee...

Podcast Introduction: Keep in mind that on January 4, 2021, Utah will enter its 125th year as a state in the union (1896-2021). This was no small accomplishment, as it took the Territory of Utah forty-seven years to be granted equal status among the previous forty-four states. When the deal was finally closed for Utah, perhaps no other individual was more responsible for this accomplishment than G...

Podcast Info: On 29 January 1863 Col. Patrick Connor and his California Volunteers (US Army, Camp Douglas, Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah) rode down a snow covered bluff and attacked a Northwestern Shoshoni winter village--on the Bear River, in the far northern section of Cache Valley, 1.6 km from the present Utah and Idaho boundary line—killing over 400 Shoshone men, women and children....

Podcast Content for Part 2 of 2: Concerning Utah’s statehood story, the oft heard quote comes to mind, attributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who said: “laws and sausage, if they are to be enjoyed, should never be watched made.” Lyman’s well written book argues for the opposite: knowing the stories behind political actions are essential to a vibrant and strong democracy.  Lyman’s “saus...

Concerning Utah’s statehood story, the oft heard quote comes to mind, attributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who said: “laws and sausage, if they are to be enjoyed, should never be watched made.” Lyman’s book argues for the opposite: knowing the stories behind political actions are essential to a vibrant and strong democracy.  Lyman’s “sausage making” history reveals many significant h...

Neylan McBaine, until just recently, served as both founder and CEO of Better Days 2020, a Utah non-profit organization, created with the intent of popularizing women’s history through education, legislation, events and the arts. Neylan has become a leader in speaking and writing about women’s leadership and the U.S. Suffrage Movement, with a specific focus on Utah and the West, and the early role...

Neylan McBaine, until just recently, served as both founder and CEO of Better Days 2020, a Utah non-profit organization, created with the intent of popularizing women’s history through education, legislation, events and the arts. Neylan has become a leader in speaking and writing about women’s leadership and the U.S. Suffrage Movement, with a specific focus on Utah and the West, and the early role...

Dr. Cassandra Clark is an adjunct professor at the Salt Lake Community College and is a Public History Marketing Content Coordinator for the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. She completed her doctorate in American History at the University of Utah in August 2020. Her dissertation title is: “Landscapes of the Mind: The Brain, Space and Scientific Race Theories, and the Environment in the Inter...

Dr. Cassandra Clark is an adjunct professor at the Salt Lake Community College and is a Public History Marketing Content Coordinator for the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. She completed her doctorate in American History at the University of Utah in August 2020. Her dissertation title is: “Landscapes of the Mind: The Brain, Space and Scientific Race Theories, and the Environment in the Inter...

The story of the siege and massacre of approximately 120 California bound immigrants by Mormon settlers and Paiute Indians at Mountain Meadows (Washington County, 38 miles northwest of St. George) on September 11, 1857 is perhaps the second most well-known story in all of Utah’s history behind only the epic story of the 1847 Mormon Pioneers.  The massacred were hastily and incompletely buried afte...

The story of the siege and massacre of approximately 120 California bound immigrants by Mormon settlers and Paiute Indians at Mountain Meadows (Washington County, 38 m. northwest of St. George) on September 11, 1857 is perhaps the second most well-known story in all of Utah’s history behind only the epic story of the 1847 Mormon Pioneers.  The massacred were hastily and incompletely buried after t...

With the fifty-first anniversary of the NYC Stonewall Riots (June 28th to July 3rd) ending just before the 4th of July weekend, we thought this Speaking of Utah podcast by Senior Public Historian Brad Westwood with historian J. Seth Anderson, would offer some good Utah history listening.  Anderson is the author of LGBTQ Salt Lake which was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2017. Seth was raised i...

Guest Bio Reverend France A. Davis, pastor emeritus, of the Salt Lake City’s Calvary Baptist Church, served his congregation as its pastor for over 45 years. In late December 2019 he stepped down. Still active in his congregation, still serving, he remains an influencer for his faith, and for Utah’s Civil Rights efforts, and for the state’s growing African-American community.  Davis came to Salt L...

Guest Bio Reverend France A. Davis, pastor emeritus, of the Salt Lake City’s Calvary Baptist Church, served his congregation as its pastor for over 45 years. In late December 2019 he stepped down. Still active in his congregation, still serving, he remains an influencer for his faith, and for Utah’s Civil Rights efforts, and for the state’s growing African-American community.  Davis came to Salt L...

Date:  02.10.2020 (Season 1, Ep. 12; 36:41 minutes and 27:12 minutes (two audio segments). To read the complete Speak Your Piece shownotes for this episode click here .   Summary: Former Salt Lake Tribune Photo Editor Jeromy Harmon, breaks down Joe Hills’ crime (the murder of a grocer and his son on 773 South West Temple), his likely unwarrented arrest, the threat he and labor unions represented t...

Date:  02.10.2020 (Season 1, Ep. 12; 36:41 minutes and 27:12 minutes (two audio segments). To read the complete Speak Your Piece shownotes for this episode click here .   Summary: Former Salt Lake Tribune Photo Editor Jeromy Harmon, breaks down Joe Hills’ crime (the murder of a grocer and his son on 773 South West Temple), his likely unwarrented arrest, the threat he and labor unions represented t...

Date: 05.07.2020 (Season 1, episode 11; part two: 26:32 min.): To read the complete show notes for thisepisode (including topics in time, photo and recommended readings) click here .  Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here for more episodes. Although we marvel at Utah’s San Juan County, with its haunting mesas, buttes, gorges, cliffs, rivers and desert plains, it wasn’t alwa...

Date: 05.07.2020 (Season 1, episode 11; part one: 30: 41 min., part two 26.50 min.): To read the complete show notes for this episode (including topics in time, photos and recommended readings) click here .  Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ? Click here for more episodes. Although we marvel at Utah’s San Juan County, with its haunting mesas, buttes, gorges, cliffs, rivers and deser...

Date: 01.10.2020 (Season 1, Episode 10, Part 2 : 25:40) To read the complete Utah Dept. of Culture & Community Engagement show notes for this episode including topics in time, photos and recommended readings click here .  Interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece ?   Click here for more episodes. Podcast Content: In this free ranging conversation Dr. Sondra Jones speaks about her book B...