Origins: Celebrating 40 Years of SMCC

Our community matters. Our college matters. Forty years ago, the idea to build a college in South Phoenix was brushed aside by lawmakers across the Valley. Today, we celebrate the fight it took to get South Mountain Community College built, and the subsequent four decades of activism, innovation, and resistance.

The South Phoenix Oral History Project (SPOH) is a student-founded and student-led initiative to capture and preserve the history of our community. Did you know that until now, no academic or public account existed about our area? By supporting SPOH, you will be helping to right this wrong. Your donation will help us employ students who are researching and writing about South Phoenix. Your contributions will also help us to build our physical and community archive.

Take a look here to meet the students at the center of our project: https://southphoenixoralhistory.com/meet-the-faculty-and-students/

South Phoenix Oral History Project is a student-founded, student-led initiative to capture and preserve the untold stories of innovation, education, and equity in South Phoenix, Arizona.

It is a collaboration of The Storytelling Institute and the History Department at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona.

South Phoenix is a sacred and relevant place with little academic attention afforded to its history. Very few academic or popular records exist detailing the history of South Phoenix, its role in the evolution of the largest metropolis in the Southwest outside of California, or its traditionally underserved population of Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian residents. Our students and this project seek to right this wrong.

Please bid on our wonderful auction items or click here to donate directly: https://smcc-maricopa.nbsstore.net/spoh-donations