Transcontinental Railroad tracks in Utah

‘Rails East to Ogden’ earns national recognition

A book about the history of Utah’s Transcontinental Railroad has received the U. S. Department of the Interior’s Environmental Achievement Award. “Rails East to Ogden: Utah’s Transcontinental Railroad Story” is available as a free download from the Utah Division of State History. One of the book’s co-authors is Dr. Christopher Merritt, director of the Utah State Historic Preservation Office. Other …

The New Juneteenth Holiday & Utah’s Laws on Interracial Marriage (1888-1963)

June 2, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 9, episode length: 61 minutes) Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece Episode. Photograph caption: wife & husband, George and Lucinda Flake Stevens (Union, Utah Territory); they met at dance while George was working as a wagon freighter. Born in Mexico, George’s father was white and his mother Hispanic. Lucinda …

Examining the costs of the Iron Horse

By Jessica Nichole Begay Living on the Uintah & Ouray Ute Reservation, Larry Cessppoch said he’s used to the quiet. In Ogden to attend the Railroads in Native American Gathering, the sound of a train whistle woke him up.  “That must of been how it was for our Ute people when they had no knowledge of what was coming with …

Staking a Utah literary claim, word by word

A literary quilt: Maybe that’s the best metaphor to consider the Utah@125 nonfiction collection. It’s stitched together in six chapters, essay by essay, poem by poem, showcasing works by 125 Utah writers, each true story 125 words long, each word representing a year of official statehood. Forty-seven writers read their Utah@125 true stories on Indie Bookstore Day on April 30, …

The Enduring Value & Big Arguments of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s Book “A House Full of Females” (2017)

February 7, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 4: 67 minutes long), click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photograph is of (beginning top left) Emmeline B. Wells, Mrs. Goddard, Mary Musser, Maggie Mitchell, Rachel Grant and Bathsheba W. Smith; Salt Lake City 13th Ward Relief Society group; mid-1870s; Charles W. Carter, photographer. Courtesy of …

‘Topaz Stories’: Voices rise from the dust

By Wendy Ogata | Photographs by Todd Anderson It took decades for Yae Wada to finally heal her righteous indignation. “I was bitter and I was angry, for many, many years,” she said. Wada was one of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry — most of them American citizens — imprisoned behind barbed wire and armed guards after Japan bombed Pearl …

Utah@125: Supporting Utah writers, nine readings at a time

By Ellen Fagg Weist More than 40 writers will tell true stories about contemporary Utah in simultaneous readings to mark Indie Bookstore Day on April 30. Eight readings will take place across the state at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at bookstores from Logan to Provo, with an additional reading on Zoom hosted by Torrey House Press (Register here). …

A NEW FLAG FOR UTAH? A NEW BRAND, ALONG WITH THE FAMILIAR

Date: November 15, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 13; 32 minutes long). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here for more episodes. Above image caption: Are we experiencing “flag envy”? Some the most beloved state flags, from across the United States, are from left to right, the …

Presenting Utah’s Tribal colors

To launch the More Than A Flag initiative, a Native American color guard presented state and national flags, along with the eight flags of Utah’s Tribal Nations. The flag ceremony in the Utah State Capitol rotunda on Jan. 19, led with solemn respect by Arnold Lano of the Utah Inter-Tribal Veterans, signifies the effort to hear Native voices in a …

Flag bearers carry the Olympic flag into the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Games.

When Utah welcomed the world

As viewers watched the medal-winning performances of Utahns on the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing, Utahns were reminded of our state’s glory in hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics. More than 500 digital images from the Olympic Legacy and the Governor’s Olympic collections are now available for viewers, thanks to the work of Michelle Gollehon, digital content specialist of the Utah …

The stripes of the Ukranian flag fly from a Lehi billboard.

Adopting a flag’s symbols in a show of support

Stripes of sky blue and sunflower yellow, representing Ukraine’s abundant wheat fields, flooded social media during the last days of February. Those iconic stripes were also planted across the world and close to home, such as on a billboard in Lehi or the lighted tower of downtown Salt Lake City’s Walker Building.  Or on Monday, Feb. 28, when the Utah …

“Topaz Stories: Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration”

June 2, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 2, the recording in 48 minutes) Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photograph is of an unidentified man standing amid tar paper covered Topaz residential blocks, circa 1942-1945. Courtesy of the Peoples of Utah Collection, Utah Division of State History. This episode of Speak Your Piece …