Across the American West, labor camps once teemed with workers brought in to harvest crops, build infrastructure, and support wartime industry. Most of these camps have been erased from public memory—none more so than El Milagro in southern Idaho. In this episode, historian Dr. Russ Tremaine guides us through the complex and often overlooked history of El Milagro, from its origins as a New Deal project to its role in housing Japanese American internees, Mexican braceros, Dust Bowl refugees, and even Jamaican laborers during World War II. We talk about what labor looks like when it’s necessary but unequal, and what’s at stake when the physical traces of history vanish. This was a story your city forgot—until now.

In this episode, we delve into the multifaceted power of Latin American film as both art and activism, from Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement to the archival voices of Black and Indigenous resistance throughout the hemisphere. Graden shares how protest shaped his early worldview, how teaching became his tool for connection, and how memory lives on through storytelling, both on screen and off.

This is a conversation about film, freedom, and the stories that shape who we become, one reel, one student, one archive at a time.

The number of different groups with history within the United States and around the world is staggering. Oftentimes, the history of many organizations and groups goes lost to the records of time. To help bring the history of one of those niche groups to the records table, Dr. Rebecca Scofield brings us the details of one such organization in this Story Your City Forgot.

If you want to check out the archives from Dr. Scofield, you can visit the website here.