‘Route 66 Women’ and how they overcame obstacles to build fulfilling lives for themselves is focus of program

The extraordinary lives of women who overcame gender discrimination and segregation to build fulfilling lives for themselves along America’s iconic highway will be the focus of a program, “Route 66 Women,” at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 9.

Register for the program at the Route 66 Women Screening and Discussion webpage.

The program, part of Cal State San Bernardino’s Womxn’s History Month celebration, will include the showing of a video project that highlights the history of San Bernardino, women of color and Route 66, the highway that runs from the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, passing through San Bernardino on the way to Chicago.

“Everyone that is interested in the history of the Inland Empire will enjoy this program,” said Marc Robinson, CSUSB assistant professor of history. “Unlike the typical descriptions of Route 66 and travel to ‘The West’ that focus on the experiences of men, this event helps us recognize the important role of women in the story of ‘the mother road.’”

Following the screening will be a question-and-answer session with documentarian Katrina Parks and CSUSB history alumnus Mark Ocegueda ’10. Parks is director of “Route 66 Women: The Untold Story of the Mother Road,” a three-part documentary series for broadcast. Ocegueda is a Mellon Gateway Postdoctoral Fellow, department of history, at Brown University.

The event is co-sponsored by CSUSB’s Women’s Resource Center, the CSUSB Department of History, and the John M. Pfau Library.  In addition, the Route 66 Women project received grant funding from California Humanities and the National Trust for Historical Preservation.

For more information, contact Marc Robinson at marc.robinson@csusb.edu, and Jacob Chacko at jacob.chacko@csusb.edu.