The Extreme History Project presents: Race and the Wild West: Sarah Bickford, The Montana Vigilantes...

February 25 – 6pm – Laura Arata – Race and the Wild West: Sarah Bickford, The Montana Vigilantes, and the Tourism of Decline, 1870-1930 (Sponsored by ARCHtrio). CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM PRESENTATION. Born a slave in eastern Tennessee, Sarah Bickford arrived in Montana Territory in the aftermath of the Civil War, and in the wake of a deadly episode of Vigilante violence that dramatically shaped the politics of Virginia City. After surviving an abusive marriage, a divorce, and the devastating loss of three children in the space of just a decade, Sarah remarried and entered a new chapter in her life in which she eventually became sole owner of the Virginia City Water Company and thus the first African American female public utilities owner in the nation. But it was another decision that imprinted her most lasting legacy on the town she called home for more than…