Legacy | Black History In Colorado

PAINTING BY THOMAS LOCKHART

MY BLACK COLORADO THE

legacy

EDITION

V O L U M E 3 // I S S U E 2

thank you to our Content sponsors Pikes Peak Library District ppld.org Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) is a nationally recognized system of public libraries serving a population of 669,874 in El Paso County, Colorado. With fifteen facilities, online resources, and mobile library service, PPLD responds to the unique needs of individual neighborhoods and the community at large.

Denver Public Libraries denverlibrary.org The Denver Public Library connects people with information, ideas and experiences that provide enjoyment, enrich lives and strengthen our community.

History Colorado historycolorado.org Established in 1879, History Colorado is a 501(c) (3) charitable organization and an agency of the State of Colorado under the Department of Higher Education. We are the trusted leader in helping people understand what it means to be a Coloradan—by sharing powerful stories, honoring our state’s treasured memories, and creating vibrant communities.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum cspm.org The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum (CSPM) is committed to building a lasting connection to the Pikes Peak region by preserving and sharing our cultural history and accomplishes this mission through innovative exhibits, educational outreach and programming, and preservation of its object and archival collections.

These organizations have given us permission to share their content with our audience as a way to celebrate local black history. This magazine would not have been possible with them.

African American Historical & Genealogical Society Of Colorado Springs aahgscs.net Our mission is to ensure that African-Americans are included as an integral part of the history of the Pikes Peak Region and our nation. Our goals are to instill a sense of pride in the youth and to expose the broader community to the culture and contributions of black people.

Black American West Museum & Heritage Center bawmhc.org Paul W. Stewart founded the museum in 1971. Paul W. Stewart was the premier “Storyteller”, he bought to life the stories of early African Americans who came West. The Black American West Museum grew out of his personal passion for collecting materials that would document the stories.

Black Past blackpast.org BlackPast.org, an online reference center makes available a wealth of materials on African American history in one central location on the Internet. These materials include an online encyclopedia of over 4,000 entries, the complete transcript of more than 300 speeches by African Americans.

Colorado Encyclopedia coloradoencyclopedia.org Colorado Encyclopedia is the leading online reference work on the Centennial State, with more than 700 main entries on the state’s history and culture. It has been recognized as an authoritative source.

Thank You

To everyone who made this community initiative possible. It has taken many people to bring this together. We are excited to continue growing and expanding and being an enriching resource for our community and for those seeking to work with those in our community. Thank you for believing in us and what we are doing. Teamwork makes dreams work.

Brandon & Jini Bornes Founders of My Black Colorado

Feature Sponsors

Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center pikespeaksbdc.org 719-667-3803 Epsilon Chi BoulĂŠ Colorado Springs Chapter

National Council of Negro Women | Denver Section ncnwdenver.org

Carlos Gonzalez, Jr. State Farm Insurance Agent guardianofthecommunity.com 719-900-7431

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A Fish Named Gecko Aimee Richey Alana Gaither Alexis Miller Alexzandre Thompson Alicia Klausmeier Alicia M Cover Allison Yazel Amy Redcloud Amy Sweet anastasia allen Angela Bakas Angela Stevens Angelique Scott Anna Sutter Anne Tapp Anthony Young Arley-Rose Torsone BabeNatural Becca Tarnowski Becky Mares Benjamin Anderson Benjamin Ralston Bernadette White Biaze Houston Billy Williams Brandon Cromier Brian Elyo Bryant Perryman Byron Hall * Carla Kenyon Carola Rafferty Carlos Gonzalez Cassandra Berry Cassandra Reid Cecilia Mims Ceita Bobb-Semple Charadie Finkle Cheriece Peterson Christianna Anderson Christina William Chubby Curls, LLC Chuck Acker Cleveland King Colorado Beautillion Inc Corey Sturdivant Courtney Lively Cristina Sajovich Cynthia Camble Cynthia E. Hurd Cynthia M Patterson Damaris McCowan Darolyn Stewart Darrell Anderson Dawud Salaam Delecia Washington Derek Hunter Diva’s Laundry Service

dominique conner Dorothy Bee Durtana Walker Edward Glasser Elizabeth Androulidakis Elizabeth Jackson Elizabeth Lee/Young Emerald Taylor Felicia Bornes-Agyekum Felicia Hawkins Felicia Hawkins Frederica Murray-Crews Gabriel Padilha George Baines George Houston Gerard Endres Gwendolyn Henderson Harold H Rapp Jr Harriet Jarmon Harrison Hunter Hester Jackson-Roberts Holly Booker Hunter Anderson Idris Goodwin Jacqueline Brunson Scott Jacqueline Williams Jadonna Brewton Jaelithe Stephens Jamal Bowen James Flowers James Hinkle Janei Maynard Janelle Landon Janet Brugger Jeff Livingston Jeff Rueckert Jenelle Forbes Jennifer Gage Jenny L Owen Jerlene Dodd Jerone Penrose JESSICA L FORD Jice Johnson Jimmy Sellars Joan Maclachlan Joanna Welch Jocelyn Mccaskill John C Conoway John C Dodson John Register Jonhda A Starling Joseph Wiliams Josephine smith Jovina Galbearth Juannean Karolyn k Dicken Kay McCormack Keena Day

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Regina English Regina Wiggett Richelle Gittens Rodney Gullate JR. Rodney Tarver Roger Fletcher Roosevelt Price Rosalyn D Bagby Royal l Curry Rutford Rutford Sara Bornes Sara Lane Sarah J Logan Scott Anderson Scott Schlieper senga fittz Sharai Johnson Sharon R Tunson Shawtina Lane Sheena Sanders Shirlee Dobbs Shirley A Stewart Shirley Martinez Shirley Wyatt Shunna Flowers smith leser Sophi Gilliland Stanley Gbandawa Stephany Spaulding Stephen C Shepard Susan DiNapoli Taj Dajuan Stokes Tanisha Bruns Tay Anderson Tekarah Harding Teresa Barnes Terri Richardson Thomas English Tianna Staples Tiffany Jones Tineal Simon Tony Penoyer Tonya White Tori Sharpe Treasell Henderson-Thomas Tressa Eaton Vachon Brackett Vanessa Julian-Shonoiki Vickey Jonson Wallace Hall Walter Huff Welvin Washington Will Phillips William Hilburn Yasmeen Nkrumah-Elie Yevgeniya Tsyganok yves sturdevant Zakiya S Moss

Covid has changed the way a lot of us interact with each other and the world. Many businesses were forced to be innovative and adapt to the changing environment. Some businesses could not pivot, while others transformed how they did business to better connect with their clients. One thing that we are confident of is that our community is resilient. Thank you for all those who continue to support our organization.

Our Mission

To facilitate and cultivate a cohesive ecosystem of the local black community to inspire, innovate and connect local areas together.

Leaving a Lasting Legacy

This History edition of the magazine strives to bring together the many resources in our community that are preserving the local black history. As I was putting this magazine together, I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation for the pioneers in this community that laid the foundations that are

Photo By Jeanette Falu-Bishop

helping many of us today. I felt a desire to be the best that I can be , as a way to show my thanks and to honor their legacy. My hope is that as people read the stories and see the pictures of those who have left a lasting impact in this community, they will also be inspired. This is not just a magazine of local black history.

These are role models for us and for the next generation.

Brandon & Jini Bornes Founders of My Black Colorado

My Black Colorado Magazine | History Edition

TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Partner Sponsored Feature

Denver Public Libraries

Sponsored Feature

Content Partner

8-9

June Waller

National Council of Negro Women, Denver Section

10-11

32-61

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

62-73 Content Partner

Sponsored Feature

Epsilon Chi BoulĂŠ Sigma Pi Phi fraternity

The first and oldest professional African American fraternity arrives in Colorado Springs.

12-13

Sponsored Feature

Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center James Proby

14-15 Editors Pick

James Proby, Founder/CEO, of the Men’s Xchange

16-17

Carrie L. Barnhill

Content Partner

22-31

Pikes Peak Library District

African American Historical & Genealogical Society Of Colorado Springs

74-81 Content Partner

82-91 Black Past

Content Partner

Black American West Museum

92-93

Content Partner

Colorado Encyclopedia

94-103

T hank yo u Ca rlos G o n z a le z , j r .

For spon s o rin g j une wa l l e r ’s F e at u r e A rti c le June Waller

Written by the citizensproject.org in 2014 Most people know of June C. Waller as an essential part of our Colorado Springs community. Her involvement and commitment to the vitality of the community is unparalleled. June, a long-time resident of Colorado Springs is the proud mother of three daughters, six grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

June received her Bachelor’s degree in business from UCCS and acquired additional education at the University of Northern Colorado in the field of communications. She is an alumnus of Leadership Pikes Peak and has attended the Center for Creative Leadership twice in two different decades.

June’s career has centered on management of affordable housing within Housing Authorities and private-owned housing for over 35 years. Now a retiree, her responsibilities included strategic planning, personnel training, staff and residents counseling on sustainable quality of life improvements, research and composed presentations to community groups both military and non-military on housing environments.

June launched the Colorado Springs Chapter of Colorado Black Women for Political Action in Colorado Springs, which is still active today.

June’s expertise has been recognized in her appointment by Governor Lamm to the Nominating Commission for the selection of District and County judges. The first female to sit on the District Court came during her tenure. Currently she sits on the Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Board (CTAB) as an appointee by City Council to represent the new City Council District #4. Additionally, her knowledge is requested and welcomed amongst all types of local community groups.

June’s recent involvement includes participation in League of Women Voters, Administration Team; Colorado Prince Hall Foundation, Vice-Chair. She sits as a member of; District 11 Foundation, Savvy Seniors, NAACP Executive Committee, Citizens Transportation Advisory Board, Black/Hispanic Coalition, and the Police Chief Citizen’s Advisory Board. As of September she created at the Hillside Community Center and the Savvy Senior’s office a service to the community, Southside Community Resource Services as a means to distribute community information to seniors and families.

Pg. 8 | Sponsor

June was a part of the Consultant VI, where were a team of amazing locals from Colorado Springs who published a monthly pamphlet called the marketplace. The marketplace highlights black business and events in Colorado springs, and help the community collaborate better with each other. the team members for the Market Place included: Jacqueline M Shepard (Editor), Beverly Pegues ( Report Director), Franklin Clay (Reporter), Doris McCullough Advertising), June Waller (Community Affairs), Franklin Clay (Subscription/ Distribution) L ea r n M o r e A b o u t S p o n s o r s a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . c o m /Sponsor s

Fe atur e j une wal l er

June Waller Community Advocate

Lea r n More About S pons or s a t w w w.MyB la ck C olorad o . c o m / S p o n so r s

Sponsor | Pg. 9

P r em ie r Sponsor National council of negro women denver section // ncnwdenver.org

Our Mission

The mission of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW) is to lead, develop, and advocate for women of African descent and all women of color as they support their families and communities.

NCNW works to ensure access to and full participation in the socio-economic and political systems which impact the quality of life for all women.

The National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW) is a coalition of thirty-eight (38) national organizations with an outreach to over four million women throughout the United States.

Since its founding in 1935, NCNW has played a vital role in the development and utilization of the leadership of women in our community, national, and international life.

Pg. 10 | Sponsor

Our History NCNW builds a common fellowship for women devoted to the task of creative and positive relationships among women nationally and abroad. The National council of Negro Women Inc. (NCNW) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1935

by Mary McLeod Bethune, a child of slave parents, distinguished educator and government consultant.

With a mission to lead, develop and advocate for women of African descent as they support their families and communities.

NCNW addresses issues of human welfare and rights through public education, personal education, community service and advocacy.

L ea r n M o r e A b o u t S p o n s o r s a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . c o m /Sponsor s

P r em i er S p ons or National council of negro women denver section // ncnwdenver.org Denver Section Executive Board

Pamela M. Miller President

Valorie Yarbrough 1st Vice President

Portia Malone 2nd Vice President

Aja Brown 3rd Vice President

Deborah Tucker Treasurer

Cynthia Francis Fundraising Chair

Angelique Chappelle Social Events Coordinator

Lea Stead Public Policy Chair

Dr. LeNitra Oliver Social Media Coordinator

Dr. Claudette Sweet Historian

Sherry Delaney Chaplain

Sheila Smith Parliamentarian

livi ng Por t r a i t honorees The "Living Portraits of African American Women" program honors women and youth who have made outstanding contributions in various disciplines.

This annual program coordinated by The National Council of Negro Women Denver Section, in partnership with Denver Public Library and Blair Caldwell Research Library is traditionally held in celebration of Women's History Month.

Lea r n More About S pons or s a t w w w.MyB la ck C olorad o . c o m / S p o n so r s

Sponsor | Pg. 11

P r em ie r Sponsor Epsilon Chi Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity

EA council psilon Chi Boulé of noblemen in Colorado Springs

Founded in 1904, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known as “The Boulé” has more than 5,000 members in the united states. These group of accomplished, affluent and influential men who are leaders in their community, are committed to leaving a lasting impact in the community and the world. Epsilon Chi Boulé is the Colorado Springs affiliate of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. Epsilon Chi Boulé was established on July 12, 2019 with 18 gentlemen who were chosen to carry on the Boule’s legacy in the local community.

Epsilon Chi celebrated its oneyear anniversary amid the 2020 pandemic in July, which was a minor achievement, but the vision to build the young boulé was not lost in that moment of triumph.

The archons invested time in 2019 and 2020 getting to know the best of each other and evaluating candidates who could be able partners in building Epsilon Chi. On November 11, 2020 Epsilon Chi held its first induction ceremony at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. The event culminated with the introduction of Archons Dennard Ellison,

Jerald Lane, and Michael Thomas.

On August 7, 2020 the members of Epsilon Chi established the Epsilon Chi Boulé Foundation. The Foundations purpose is to stay informed about the health issues impacting Black people in the Pikes Peak region and take appropriate action by funding scholarships for Black college students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) degrees, undergraduate or graduate, that are focused on mitigation of health issues in the Black community.

Upper Row Archons (L-R): James T. Colvin Jr., Willard E. Bell Sr., Paul M. Buckley, Alex Malone, Louis L. Fletcher Lower Row Archons (L-R): Keith E. Clayton, Vincent L. Ellerby, Eddie L. Koen, Sire Archon (President) Jacob V. Pruitt

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L ea r n M o r e A b o u t S p o n s o r s a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . c o m /Sponsor s

n e w a rch o ns o f Ep si l o n C h i BoulĂŠ

Archon Michael J. Thomas

Archon Jerald E. Lane

Archon Dennard W. Ellison

Upper Row Archons (L-R): Eric Graham, Tamaan K. Osbourne-Roberts, Jason O. Harris, Timothy DeRamus & Elmer J. Mason Lower Row Archons (L-R): Gregory Vincent*, Sire-Elect (Vice President) Alfred M. Lewis, Terrance D. McWilliams Sr., Stanley F. Gbandawa & Abasi K. Baruti. *Past Grand Sire of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity

Lea r n More About S pons or s a t w w w.MyB la ck C olorad o . c o m / S p o n so r s

Sponsor | Pg. 13

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87

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CAL BUSIN LO

19 E S T.

Pg. 14 | Histor y In The Making Award

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Rea d m o r e a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . com /H istor y

James Proby, Founder/CEO, of the Men ’s Xchange

, roby, center r, Mildred P roby he ot m s hi James with ster, Veronica Elder-P and si

James with his father, Reverend Dr. Milton Proby

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Encyclopedia | Pg. 15

E dit or’s pi ck Car r ie l. ba rn hi l l Carrie L. Barnhill

Publisher of Minority & Black Directories in Colorado Springs & Local Historian

A life dedicated to God, family, and community; the first thing you’ll notice when you meet Carrie L. Barnhill is the look of modest contentment and compassion in her eyes.

Born in Bernice, Louisiana, Barnhill began her civil service when she joined the Air Force as a stenographer. After 22 years of service, she retired from the military as a Master Sergeant and earned numerous awards, including the Meritorious Service Award, Outstanding Unit Award, and the National Defense Award.

As is common for those who serve in the military, Barnhill was stationed in the Springs in 1967. Enamored by its western charm and beauty, Barnhill moved back permanently in 1980. She worked for Young’s Janitorial Service until 1996. Then she attended Robinson Business College and Pike’s Peak Community College to become a social worker.

Upon realizing there was a lack of representation for minority-owned Small Businesses, Barnhill’s Enterprises Inc. published its first El Paso County Minority Business and professional Directory in 1987, followed by the Afro-Americana Directory in 1994. in 1999 Barnhill founded her flagship enterprise, Barnhill’s Janitorial Service

Barnhill was a member of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of

Pg. 16 | Sponsor

Commerce, The Pike’s Peak Black Chamber of commerce, The Urban League of the Pikes Peak Region, the Small Business Advisory Council, NAACP, The Black Chamber of Commerce, El Paso County Republicans, The Disabled American Veterans the Retired Enlisted Association, Women in the Air Force ,Alpha Theta Kappa, and was the Mother of the Progress Church of God and Christ.

The Black Directory

Barnhill’s Enterprises was conceived in 1986. Its only goal was to publish a directory about minority business and professional entrepreneurs in order to fill a void in local information sourced. In 1994 Barnhill’s Enterprises saw a need to publish an Afro-Americana Directory to complete a long--term objective and goal of helping to keep Colorado Springs, Colorado as well as others informed if the great accomplishments minorities were making in this great city.

The void existed because major directories do not distinguish between AfroAmericans and other businesses; The cost of advertising in directories was far beyond the financial means of many members of minority group; None of the directories specifically list churches, organizations, and

social groups in such a manner that military members of minority groups and nonmilitary people “new” to the area will be able to find groups to join; There are no centralized areas where members of specific minority groups live or have their businesses;’ Other directories do not provide an immediate guide to minority business for use of city, county, state, or federal government agencies. These agencies were required to make attempts to assure that minority businesses were aware of and encouraged to submit bids. This directory helped to bridge the gap

There was no charge for minority businesses to be listed in the directory, however if you wanted a copy you would have to pay for it.

Sales for the of the directory at its reasonable price did not generate sufficient income to cover the expenses; therefor , additional income was raised through support of sponsors, advertising, government, corporations and other donations.

In addition to being a good information resource, the directory was also a record of history of the various types of businesses, churches, social and civic organizations.

L ea r n M o r e A b o u t S p o n s o r s a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . c o m /Sponsor s

F e atu r e d no mine e c ar r i e l . barnhi l l

Carrie L. Barnhill Publisher of Minority & Black Directories in Colorado Springs

Lea r n More About S pons or s a t w w w.MyB la ck C olorad o . c o m / S p o n so r s

Sponsor | Pg. 17

LEAVE A

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L ea r n M o r e A b o u t S p o n s o r s a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . c o m /Sponsor s

LEGACY MYBLACKCOLORADO.COM/HISTORY

Lea r n More About S pons or s a t w w w.MyB la ck C olorad o . c o m / S p o n so r s

Sponsor | Pg. 19

Excerpt from the Colorado Census of 1910

Pg. 20 Historical City Data

IMAGE REFERENCE INFORMATION

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington | G4314.C5A3 1882 .S7

IMAGE REFERENCE INFORMATION

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington | LOT 3888, no. 8 [P&P]

Denver, Colorado Historical City Data Pg. 21

Fannie Mae Duncan 1918-2005

Fannie Mae Bragg was born in Luther, Oklahoma, the daughter of tenant farmers who fled violent ancestral slavery in Alabama. After her father died, leaving behind a wife and seven children amid the dust bowl, the family relocated to Colorado Springs in search of new opportunity in 1933.

Fannie Mae graduated form Colorado Springs High School in 1938, the first in her family to receive a diploma.

She married Edward Roy Duncan in 1939 and soon began a career honing her sharp entrepreneurial acumen. She managed a soda fountain for black soldiers at Camp Carson’s Haven Club, then went on to run her own business, a downtown United Service Organizations cafe for which she fought for and obtained a business license. When the building across the street on Colorado Avenue went up for sale, Fannie Mae and Ed purchased it. There, they opened Duncan’s Cafe, and eventually turned the upstairs into a jazz lounge. They named it the Cotton Club in honor of the famous Harlem music establishment.

Although there were no official segregation laws in the books in Colorado Springs, and schools up through college were primarily integrated, black entertainers were not permitted to perform at the city’s upscale establishments. The Cotton Club was the first place where many of the biggest entertainers of the day could share their craft within city limits, including Muddy Waters, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Louis Armstrong, Etta James, and BB King.

White clientele wanted to see these performers, too, and so the Cotton Club became, almost inadvertently, Colorado Springs’ first integrated business establishment. When challenged by the Chief of Police to “stop mixing colors” at the club, Fannie Mae resisted. “I check for age; I didn’t know I had to check for color,” she retorted. Rallied on all sides by music lovers and loyal supporters, the Chief soon changed his mind, allowing Fannie Mae to continue a legacy of drawing world class performances that would last nearly 30 years.

Fannie Mae went on to create several businesses around the hub of

Duncan’s Cafe and the Cotton Club, including a salon, gift shop, record store, and BBQ restaurant. In 1975, in the name of urban renewal, the Cotton Club and Fannie Mae’s other enterprises were torn down.

They were replaced with a parking lot and a new row of commercial properties.

Fannie Mae has long been recognized for her contributions to equality and for her club’s motto, “Everybody Welcome.” Her trademark generosity, philanthropy, and dedication to her community still resonate today. She is now honored in perpetuity with a bronze statue outside the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Colorado Springs.

Written By: Kate Perdoni

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Lew Tilley Photo collection | MSS 0099

Pg. 22 | Pikes Peak Librar y District

Rea d m o r e a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . com /H istor y

Duncan’s Cafe 1948

Duncan's Cafe occupied the ground level and The Cotton Club was up the stairs. Fannie Mae and several of her family members operated both. In this photo, Fannie Mae is behind the counter to the rear, and her brother Cornelius is across from her

Pikes Peak Library District | Collections African Americans In Colorado Springs | MSS 0412 Norman Sams Collection | MSS 0101

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Pikes Peak Librar y District | Pg. 23

The Cotton Club

Colorado Springs

Louis Armstrong At The Cotton Club

Louis Armstrong was in Colorado Springs to perform at the Fort Carson Field House on September 17, 1962 and stopped in at The Cotton Club while he was in town to see Fannie Mae Duncan.

Many other, talent & Well known musicians visited The cotton club other the years and showed their appreciation by giving signed autographs to Mrs. Duncan

Pikes Peak Library District | Collections Lew Tilley Photo Collection | MSS 0099 African Americans In Colorado Springs | MSS 0412 Pg. 24 | Pikes Peak Librar y District

Rea d m o r e a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . com /H istor y

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection African Americans In Colorado Springs | MSS 0412

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Pikes Peak Librar y District | Pg. 25

Women Riding Horses In Cheyenne Canyon 1908

Jesse Bass | Horse Trainer 1900

Portrait of Jesse Bass holding a horse in the courtyard of the Carriage House on Glen Eyrie. Photo identified on back as "Jesse Bass, horse trainer for Gen. Palmer."

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Margaretta M. Boas Photograph Collection | MSS 0001

Pg. 26 | Pikes Peak Librar y District

Rea d m o r e a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . com /H istor y

The Oklahoma Club of Colorado Springs Unknown

Formal portrait of twelve well-dressed African-American men and women. "The Oklahoma Club of Colorado Springs" printed above photo; caption below reads "Top Row - Beatrice Montgomery, Marcella Groves, Bessie Hall.

Middle Row - Lola Graham, Maud Fauts, T.S. Williams, Lincoln Dunlap, Elizabeth Lett. Bottom Row - Willie Waters, Clara Montgomery, Juanita Loyd, Walter Handy."

Note on back reads "Maybe youth group from St. John's Baptist Church.

Lola Graham on left in second row was daughter of David Graham, pastor St. John's Baptist Church ca. 1914."

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Margaretta M. Boas Photograph Collection |MSS 0001

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Pikes Peak Librar y District | Pg. 27

Terry Miller College Recruitment Letters 1973

Mitchell High School star athlete Terry Miller and his mother Bonnie Miller at home, 706 Bryce St, reviewing college recruitment letters. According to the Gazette, Miller was one of the most recruited American athletes of his time (See November 16, 2019). Miller went on to play for Oklahoma State University and finished second in the 1977 vote for the Heisman Trophy. In the NFL, he replaced O.J. Simpson as the Buffalo Bills running back.

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Stan Payne Collection | MSS 0004

Pg. 28 | Pikes Peak Librar y District

Rea d m o r e a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . com /H istor y

Roosevelt Collins | Educator 1969 “Roosevelt Collins (1905-1978) was the first black hired by Colorado College in a position other than janitor or domestic worker.

He began working for the college’s athletic department in 1935. During his 35 years with the college, he became an expert athletic trainer. He was a friend and confidant to both students and faculty, as well as a popular figure in the black community. His professional fame spread, and he was once offered a job with the Brooklyn Dodgers.” Story appeared in the Colorado Springs Gazette on February 12, 1992, page B-1. Photo not used.

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Stan Payne Collection | MSS 0004

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Pikes Peak Librar y District | Pg. 29

The 400 Club 1957-1965

Group of African-American people pose in room with canned goods and basket of apples around. Man in front holds sheet cake with "Club 400" on it. Photo identified on back as "Club 400 left to right (front row) Selena (Bragg) Charlton, Jerry Smith, Al Tresvant, Leha Seymour Wilson, Evelyn Tresvant.

Left to right - back row - Todd Colbert, Eula Banks, Vernon Bragg, --, E.L Rhodes, Fannie Mae Duncan, Alma Bridges, Elizabeth Crow, Bill Crow, Bessie Rhodes. Taken at Duncan's bar & restaurant late 1950's or early 1960's."

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Margaretta M. Boas Photograph Collection | MSS 0001

Pg. 30 | Pikes Peak Librar y District

Rea d m o r e a t w w w. My B l a c k C o l o r a d o . com /H istor y

Elks Club Dance | The 400 Club 1957-1965

Dance floor crowded with African-American dancers. Photo identified on back as “dance held at Elks Lodge #309 BPOE (3 E. Bijou). Elks Club dance.

Left Front - Mr. & Mrs. Bill French. Right - Elmer & Rosalie Flores black dress, white corsage, black suit & white hat. Middle couple Lucius & Brenette Washington (white blouse - black rickrack). Midright Chester Morgan - Vivian Seymour (black dress - pearls) Simeon Simmy Simpson & Cecil Duncan. Far Right - Mr. & Mrs. Edward Duncan. Far left - Yvonne Smith. Far right - Myrtle White.” Diagram of dancers showing these people is included.

Pikes Peak Library District | Collection Margaretta M. Boas Photograph Collection | MSS 0001

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Pikes Peak Librar y District | Pg. 31

A Tourist Perspective

Nestled in the heart of Denver’s historic and ethnically vibrant Five Points district, the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library has, for seventeen years, been serving the community as a reserve of Black history archives.

The 40,000 square foot library contains three impressive floors, each dedicated to showcasing considerable collections of the achievements of AfricanAmericans in Denver, and their contributions

to revolutionizing the American West.

The library was conceived by the honorable Wellington Web, the first Black Mayor of Denver, and First Lady Wilma Web. The couple envisioned erecting a museum that would preserve and showcase Black folks’ underrepresented influences on Denver’s educational, political, and economic advancements. The name, “Blair Caldwell” is a combination of two prominent political figures proposed by the Webs. Omar Blair, a Tuskegee Airman who later became the first Black president of the Denver school board,

and Elvin Caldwell, who was the first Black member admitted to Denver’s City Council.

I was permitted the honor to meet with Ms. Terry Nelson, the library’s Special Collection and Community Resource Manager, who granted me the privilege of a private tour.

Upon entry, I was immediately enveloped by a sense of a sacred welcoming and belonging.

Artist Yvonne Muinde’s outstanding mural, which surrounds the front desk, shone down on me like a melanated sun and seemed to beckon me nearer. Entitled, The Spirit of Togetherness, the acrylic wall painting is most befitting the entrance of this unique library. It thoughtfully combines Black personages from the old West, with contemporary images of legendary heroes and heroines. From these depictions, it is inherently understood that if not for our browbeaten brethren, who migrated to the West as early as 1860, settled, and developed the land, further advancements by wellknown civil and equal rights leaders could not have been made. This provocative work of art begs us to contemplate the enormity that we abounded after a liberation that was never intended to occur, and have prevailed in a country in which we used to be enslaved.

Upon entry, this stunning painting chides that we are stronger together and that our successes are primarily due to the courage and inventiveness of our ancestors, vis-à-vis, we need each other. Moving on, I observed

Denver Public Libraries | Blair Caldewell Research Library

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that the first-floor functions as a full-service, conventional, library. However, touring it was the equivalent of shaking a succession of prominent hands at an exclusive meet and greet.

A large portion of the firstfloor’s walls is lined with an assemblage of photographs and excerpts detailing the accomplishments of some of Denver’s past and present council members, educators, attorneys, ministers, journalists, ambassadors, firefighters, Tuskegee Airmen, and diplomats. Reading about them from behind their roped enclosure was a wonderful refresher that debunks the myth that we are incompetent to attain such achievements, or are the minority in such statuses. Ascending to Blair Caldwell’s second floor uncovers a long wooden hall of striking glass display cases. They contain relics and collectibles of African Americans, not long freed from slavery, who accomplished extraordinary things amid racially hostile eras. Memorabilia documenting their diplomas, degrees, and prominent affiliations with top-ranking social groups, religious sects, and educational networks, widely believed as exclusive to Whites only members, extend the full length of the second level. Additionally, the second floor houses a quaint study and media room tastefully adorned with a salient mural by local artist, Darrell Anderson. Entitled, The Essence of Huey P. Newton, the canvas pays a whimsical tribute to the late co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Furthermore, visitors may devour a considerable collection of reference books and academic journals on microfilm. These donated collections are dedicated to the furtherance and preservation of Denver’s Black history and beyond. Such titles in each compilation include: “Denver Landmarks & Historic Districts,” “The Mediterranean In History,” “Africa – The Time Has Come,” “Sowing The Mustard Seed,” “Visions of Finland,” “North American Indian Landmarks, Travelers Guide,” and “In Our Own Words.” And yet, the third floor of Blair Caldwell seems to await Black history- seekers as a gracious host, a most welcomed guest. Exiting the elevator to the third level beholds a sprawling galleria of vivid hand-painted portraits of Black pioneers whom you and your children ought to know. The waxed corridor then reveals an unrestricted opening to an alluring

exhibition hall, through which visitors may self-guide themselves or schedule a directed tour. The museum is unique for its thoughtful design to provide a palpable and interactive learning experience. I delighted in sitting in the replicated version of the iconic Roxy Theatre (unphotographed at the behest of Mrs. Nelson), which plays an informative and entertaining, 8-minute docufilm about the history of Denver.

Sightseers will be pleased to discover other staged reproductions of Denver’s historical accounts, such as the Mural of Barbershop exhibit, the first Denver Trolley replica, and rare photos of Hendey & Meyer’s: Erecting and Boiler Shop, Excelsior Steam Engine Works, and the Pattern Shop. All were some of the first Black-owned businesses to successfully open and operate with longevity in Denver dating back to the 1900s. I emerged from my fourhour tour with a new layer of education, completely reinvigorated, and grateful.

Knowledge of self has always been posited as quintessential for every individual to achieve self-actualization, or to become the most that one can be. The birthplace of self-knowledge initiates from deep inside each person, and the stimulus for this initiation is generated through factual storytelling about one’s parents, extended family, place of origin, and heritage. These tidbits of knowledge are paralleled to droplets of water, which, when coalesced, form a great lake. To be denied such stories will inevitably prove detrimental to an individual’s pursuit to self-actualize.

Yet, thankfully, the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library and Museum is likened to a reservoir, standing at the ready to help replenish some of the missing narratives.

Written By Porsha Stuckey

Denver Public Libraries | Blair Caldewell Research Library

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 33

Woodmen at Five Points 1951

Woodmen Member Uniform 1900-1910

African-American men, women, and children, members of the American Woodmen's Association and Shriners, many in costume or uniform, pose with banners and pennants near the Association's office at 2100 Downing Street in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.

Studio portrait of an AfricanAmerican man, a member of the American Woodmen's Association. He wears uniform which includes a double breasted jacket with epaulets and pins that read "A. W." and a peaked cap with a decorative pin.

Denver Public Library | Collection American Woodmen’s Collection | ARL-222, ARL-226

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Woodmen Juvanile Contigent 1920 African-American boys and girls, members of the children's group of the American Woodmen's Association, pose with a woman probably in Denver, Colorado. The boys wears uniforms that include peaked caps. The girls wear wide-brimmed hats and shawls.

Denver Public Library | Collection American Woodmen’s Collection | ARL-224

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 35

Camp Nizhoni Portait 1937

Fourteen African American campers (including Mary Frances) stand near a truck on the Camp Nizhoni campground in Lincoln Hills (Gilpin County), Colorado. Some campers wear dresses with print designs; others wear skirts and blouses and some hold jackets. One camper holds a wide-brimmed hat.

Denver Public Library | Collection Lincoln Hills records | ARL-169

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Bathing In The River 1932

A group of African American campers from Camp Nizhoni bathe on the bank of South Boulder Creek in Lincoln Hills (Gilpin County), Colorado. The teenage girls wash clothes and wear swim suits and caps. Camp buildings are in the distance.

Campers In Boots 1937 A group of African American teenage campers from Camp Nizhoni in Lincoln Hills (Gilpin County), Colorado pose. Outfits include jodhpurs with boots; shorts, dresses.

Denver Public Library | Collection Lincoln Hills records | ARL-93, ARL-167

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 37

Denver Public Library | Collection Public Information Office | X-28021

Pg. 38 | Denver Public Libraries

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Library BookMobile

Teaching Kids How To Use The Library

1964

1950-1970?

Interior view of the Denver Public Library bookmobile in Denver, Colorado; Helen V. Watts and Ellen Berner watch Black (African American) boys and girls read books.

Mrs. L. E. Overland instructs a group of Black (African American) boys and girls at the Warren Branch of the Denver Public Library in the Cole neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.

Denver Public Library | Collection Public Information Office | X-28145

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 39

Band Marching In Shiners Parade 1953

African American members of the Shriners (Shrine 53) participate in a parade on Welton Street in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. They march with instruments that include trombones and baritones. Spectators line the street.

Denver Public Library | Collection Clarence and Fairfax Holmes papers | X-22328

Pg. 40 | Denver Public Libraries

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Shriners Marching 1953

African American members of the Shriners march in a parade on Welton Street in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. One man carries a sword.

Spectators line the streets.

Parade Attendees 1953

African American men and women stand on Welton Street in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. They await the beginning of a Shriners parade.

Denver Public Library | Collection Clarence and Fairfax Holmes papers | X-22324, X-22329

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 41

Kings & Queens Social Club 1950-1960?

A group of African American (Black) men and women stand in a V-formation on the dance floor of a dance hall in Denver, Colorado. The women wear identical strapless, light colored, full length gowns and stand on one side of the room. Them men wear tuxedos with tails and stand on the other side of the room.

A backdrop of a castle embossed with words reading: “Kings,” “Queens,” and “Palace,” is in the distance. A jazz band sits on the stage nearby.

Denver Public Library | Collection Burnis McCloud photographs and papers | MCD-182

Pg. 42 | Denver Public Libraries

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Futuristics Social Club 1950-1960?

View of a Futuristics Club function. A group of African American (Black) men and women pose near a stage in Denver, Colorado. The women wear party dresses and the men wear suits. A jazz band is on the stage. A sign on the wall may be the insignia of the club.

Futuristics Guys 1950-1960?

View of a Futuristics Club function. A group of African American (Black) men in tuxedos pose in a hall in Denver, Colorado. One man kneels on the floor and the others have their hands on his shoulders. In the distance a banner reads: “ Adventures in Time,” “F56.”

Futuristics Band 1950-1960?

View of a Futuristics Club function. Members of an orchestra play on the stage of the Rainbow Ballroom, 38 E. Fifth Avenue (5th Ave.), Denver, Colorado. The African American (Black) band members play the piano, saxophone, trumpet, drums, and bass. They wear white jackets and stand in front of music stands that read: “Rainbow.” Another sign reads: “No Smoking on Orchestra Stand at Any Time - Management.”

Denver Public Library | Collection Clarence and Fairfax Holmes papers | MCD-141, MCD-142, MCD-146

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 43

Tea Time At The Owls Social Club 1973-1980?

View of an Owl Club function. A group of African American (Black) young women pose in front of a building in Denver, Colorado.

The women wear mini dresses and hats. An older woman stands near the center.

Denver Public Library | Collection Burnis McCloud photographs and papers | MCD-210

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Valentines At The Owls Social Club 1955-1965?

View of an Owl Club function. A group of African American (Black) teenagers stand in a circle on a ballroom floor in Denver, Colorado. The young women wear formal dresses and the young men wear tuxedos. Other couples crowd the room. Decorations in the distance read: “Be My Valentine,” “Love,” and “I Love You.”

Denver Public Library | Collection Burnis McCloud photographs and papers | MCD-223

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 45

Black Girl Scouts 1940-1950?

A group of African American (Black) girls and women in Girl Scout uniforms stand in formation to receive badges. A white woman in a dress uniform pins a badge reading: "Be Prepared," on a young girls sash. Other badges indicate that the girls belong to Troop 657, Metro Denver.

Denver Public Library | Collection Burnis McCloud photographs and papers | MCD-160

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Cassius 1940-1950?

Interior view of City Park Sundries at 2101 York Street in the City Park West neighborhood, Denver, Colorado. Mr. Ferris Cassius, an African American, the proprietor of City Park Sundries, draws a beverage from the soda fountain behind the counter. Dishes, glasses, coffee pots, cans of Campbell Soups, and a jar of pickles are behind him. A price list is mounted on the wall.

Denver Public Library | Collection Tom Noel photograph collection | AUR-700

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 47

Whittier Elementary School 1927-1929

Students who include (top row) unidentified, (second row, left to right) second, Thelma Drisden, Edna (third row, left to right) Norman Randall, Frank Caldwell (Elvin's cousin) Geraldine, Keith, Jean McKissick, Loretta Cole, Eleanor James (bottom row, left to right), Merril Dilworth, Sydney Arnold, R.J. Lewis, unidentified, Wiburn Atwood, John Moseley [i.e. Mosley], Billy Gaines, Albert McQuiller, and Charles Petallick pose on the steps of Whittier Elementary School at 2480 Downing Street in Denver, Colorado. The girls wear dress and the boys wear knickers.

Denver Public Library | Collection John Mosley| ARL-216

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Duke Ellington & Denver Shriners Date Unknown

Group photo of members of the Shriner’s Club No. 49 with Duke Ellington. Caption on back says “O. Abernathy, Leroy Smith, Duke Ellington, Earl Mann.

Denver Public Library | Collection Clarence and Fairfax Holmes papers | WH1270

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 49

Ruth Denny 1920-2012

Ms. Denny, the granddaughter of a slave, was born in 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri.

As an adult, Ms. Denny recalled vividly how hurt and angry she felt when she witnessed her mother being discriminated against by others. With her husband and children, she relocated to Denver in 1952. Ms. Denny was outraged by the Jim Crow practices she and her family were subjected to in Denver.

As a teacher in DPS, Ms. Denny taught at low income schools and provided all that she could for her students. These experiences served to propel her into leadership in the Civil Rights Movement in Denver. Upon retirement from teaching, she continued to serve the community by working with various people and groups whose purpose was to better the Denver community. She also was a co-founder of “Rebels Remembered,� a film project with the vision that the civil rights movement in Colorado should be chronicled for the children of Colorado.

Inducted 2004.

Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

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Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 51

Thomas Campbell 1869-1957

Graduated from Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C., in 1893; first black man to practice law in the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, 1893. Served as major in the Spanish American War, personally recruiting and organizing a company in the 7th Army; led this company in Cuba and the Philippine Islands. Came to Denver in 1904; founder and editor of a Negro journal, The Denver Independent; alternate-at-large to the National Republican Convention at Chicago, 1908; served as president of the National Bar Association; admitted to the Colorado Bar, 1921; organized the first colored Citizen’s Association, 1919, which became the Denver Urban League in 1946.

Inducted 1973.

Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

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Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 53

Elva J. Dulan 1914-2000 Counselor for Black Students, Loretto Heights College

One of the first 18 black nurses serving in Baltimore City Hospitals; one of the first 24 black nurses to enter the Army Nurses Corps, 1941; transferred to Fitzsimons General Hospital, 1942. First black employed by Denver Visiting Nurses Association; appointed instructor, University of Denver, 1959; first black nurse on staff, Tri-County Health Department, 19591963; assistant director of Public Health Nursing, University of Colorado; appointed

by Governor John A. Love to the Colorado State Board of Nursing in 1971; secretary treasurer of the Colorado State Board of Nursing. Inducted 1973.

Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

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Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 55

Cleo Parker Robinson 1948-present

Artistic Director of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. Cleo Parker Robinson is the Artistic Director of the only multi-cultural dance arts organization of its kind in this region. The organization has received the Denver Partnership Award of Honor, the El Pomar Foundation Award of Excellence in the Arts and Humanities. The Project Self-Discovery program provides the arts as an alternative to at-risk youth.

The Denver Post Centennial Commission selected her as one of the Colorado 100-people who have made a lasting impact on our state. Cleo also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Denver in 1991, represented Colorado in the 1984 United States Olympic Arts Festival (Los Angeles, CA) and represented Black Dance at Festac in 1977 (Nigeria). Inducted 1994.

Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Pg. 56 | Denver Public Libraries

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Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 57

Arie Parks Taylor 1927-2003

“The “Fierce Black Woman from Colorado.”

Arie Parks Taylor’s accomplishments are numerous and well known throughout Denver City and County and Colorado. She was the first African American woman to become Chief Clerk of the Denver Election Commission. In 1972 she was the first African American woman elected to the Colorado House of Representatives and chaired the State Veterans Affairs Committee. She served for six terms. Numerous bills that she sponsored were enacted into law, treatment centers for Sickle Cell Anemia and Hemophilia; Colorado income tax deduction for the Displaced Homemaker Program and the tax contribution to domestic abuse. She amended the Civil Rights Act to include women being able to obtain credit in their own name. Arie founded and owned the Arie Parks Taylor and Associates (APTA), an accounting and management company.

The Arie P. Taylor Administration Building, located in Montbello, Colorado is named for her honor. Inducted 2004.

Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

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Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 59

Syl Morgan-Smith 1940-Present Mrs. Syl Morgan-Smith was one of the first African American television news anchorwomen in Colorado. She was a weather forecaster, sportscaster, television talk show host, newspaper editor, and popular radio announcer and newscaster.

In 31 years, she honored more than 450 individuals and organizations for excellence in Christian and community service, as the Founder and President of the Colorado Gospel Music Academy & Hall of Fame.

She served on many boards of directors including Children’s Hospital, First Interstate Bank, and Metro Denver Urban League.

At New Hope Baptist Church she serves as an ordained deacon and member of the Majestic Praise Choir. Inducted 2002.

Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Pg. 60 | Denver Public Libraries

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Denver Public Library | Collection Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Collection

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Denver Public Libraries | Pg. 61

The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum African Americans in Colorado Springs Exhibit The title for the exhibit is drawn from a poem by Langston Hughes, which describes the exodus from the South of millions of African American families following the Civil War. It tells that story from a local perspective by describing what individuals and families found when they arrived in Colorado Springs, the supportive community they created for themselves, and the role they played in shaping the city we live in today.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Black History Display

Pg. 62 | Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

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The Brown Bombers 1949 If you were a black high-school athlete in the 1940s, your opportunities were limited. Physical contact sports were reserved for white athletes. After graduation, city league baseball teams continued to be all white. In 1945 Sonny Bell and Justus Morgan recruited friends to form an all-black team, which they named The Brown Bombers in honor of Joe Louis.

Up to 500 people came to watch games at Memorial Park and Monument Valley Park. The team went on the road in a rickety bus subject to breakdown. Even trips as far as Grand Junction had to be made in one day because no hotels would accept them.

In 1949 teams from Camp

Carson and the Elks vied for the title of city champions. A banquet planned for the winners was cancelled when the Brown Bombers won that year and again the next.

The Korean War brought an end to the team as many entered the service. Their story had been all but forgotten until Bill Vogrin of the Gazette brought it to public attention. This led to the Brown Bombers induction into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, and the five remaining members received their medals 65 years after the fact.

Today, only three of the medal holders survive. Sam Dunlap and Joe Morgan passed away earlier this year. Reverend Justus Morgan, Reverend Jesse Vaughn and

Sylvester Smith are left as a living legacy of this black history milestone.

Article By Lucy Bell, widow of Brown Bomber Ollie Bell, and author of Coming Up: A Boy’s Adventures in 1940s Colorado Springs.

Ambient Light Publishers, 2018. Available at Poor Richard’s bookstore and other Colorado Springs locations and on Amazon.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection SCLH - James and Pauline Bell Collection | S999.0122.0003-.0034

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Pg. 63

Women In Portrait Date Unknown Standing: Ella Bell, Clara Banks, Edna Bell, Maude Macon Loper.

Sitting: unknown, child Eva Banks, Ediga Grey

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S990.0095.0025, S990.0095.0031

Pg. 64 | Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

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Family Connections Date Unknown The Macon and Bell families riding mules in front of balancing rock (both families are related to Fredrick Douglas

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S990.0095.0010, S990.0095.0035

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Pg. 65

The Robert Martin family 1935?

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S996.0333.0001, S990.0095.0032b

Pg. 66 | Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

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The Boxer Billy King 1890

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S990.0095.0026

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Pg. 67

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World 1897

Fraternal organizations proved popular among African Americans for the same reasons that they proved popular among other Americans: providing financial, spiritual, and emotional aid, they were invaluable to the communities they served.

African American fraternities, however, had the added purpose of improving self-

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S990.0095.0039

Pg. 68 | Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

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esteem. First instituted during slavery, the membership, rituals, uniforms, and offices of these societies generated a respect not available outside of the lodges.

Fully committed to economic, personal, and academic advancement, fraternal organizations have played a vital role in every phase of the African American experience.

One such organization is the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World (IBPOEW).

Currently boasting 500,000 members in over 1,500 lodges worldwide, the IBPOEW is the largest Black fraternal organization in the world. The IBPOEW's stated purpose is "that the welfare and happiness of its

members be promoted and enhanced, that nobleness of soul and goodness of heart be cultivated, that the principles or Charity, Justice, Brotherly/Sisterly Love and Fidelity be inculcated, that its members and their families be assisted and protected, [and] that the spirit of patriotism be enlivened and exalted."

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S990.0095.0039

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Pg. 69

Waiters At The Alamo Hotel 1902

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection SCLH Photographs - Business Enterprise - Hotels - Alamo | A80-80

Pg. 70 | Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

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The dining room at the Alamo Hotel. The 12 waitstaff in the photograph are all African American men.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection SCLH Photographs - Business Enterprise - Hotels - Alamo | A80-80

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Pg. 71

McAdams Shoe Shine Shop 1921

McAdams Boot black shop at 27 1/2 South Tejon, Colorado Springs, in the Stratton Building with Earl McAdams and an unidentified worker standing left to right

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Photograph Collection | S997.0190.0002, S990.0095.0030

Pg. 72 | Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

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Traveling Performer Date Unknown June Tidwell Sprouls, was a musician whospent her summers in Colorado Springs, frequently playing at the Village Inn with her husband Joe.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Collection Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs | S990.0095.0023

Read more at www.MyBlackColorado.com/Histor y

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | Pg. 73

First Black Museum In Colorado Springs Started By Candice Mcknight

Our mission is to ensure that African-Americans are included as an integral part of the history of the Pikes Peak Region and our nation. Our goals are to instill a sense of pride in the youth and to expose the broader community to the culture and contributions of black people. Our objectives are to promote interest in AfricanAmerican genealogy and to encourage the study of Black History, accumulate and preserve African-American genealogical materials, assist members with their research and to acquire and share African-American historical and genealogical information.

OUR HISTORY

In September 1981, the Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs (NHACS) was founded. Its first anniversary celebration was held in February 1982.

The co-founders were Charlotte Banks Collins, John McDonald, Erna May Marshall McDonald, Lonnie Seymour Sr., Vivian Seymour, Lucius Washington, Genolda Vaughan Jones, Leonard Pollard and Lu Lu Stroud Pollard, Samuel Hunter, Jr., Minnie Ray Lane Hunter, Shirlee McFarland Darden, Andrew Darden, Eula Banks Andrews.

In 1997, Candice McKnight was invited to a family reunion and it sparked her interest in genealogy. Her first mentor was Will DeBoer,

Sexton of Evergreen Cemetery. He directed her to the right places and people to see. On November 20, 1999, Candice met with five of the most knowledgeable genealogists, librarians, and historians in Colorado. They were: Katie Brown Bennett, genealogist and author of five family history books, Mary Davis, librarian historian and genealogist, Bonnie Yorganson, certified genealogist and director of the Latter Day Saints Library at The Family History Center, Betty Johnson, certified genealogist and John Palmer, author and genealogist.

These experts gave Candice a list of beginning genealogy classes specifically geared toward African-American genealogy to help get her started.

Candice sought out instructors to teach these classes from the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society, the Penrose Public Library, the Family History Center and volunteers from the community and all over the state. In 2000, Candice founded The African-American Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs (AAGSCS). In 2003, when Lu Lu Stroud Pollard became ill she asked Candice to take over NHACS. Something stirred within Candice’s heart and in spite of some objections, she promised Lu Lu that she could not let history die.

In light of the fact that the NHACS and the AAGSCS had many similarities, including many of the same members, it was decided that it would be best to bring both groups together. In 2005, NHACS and AAGSCS created a new board and renamed the new organization the AfricanAmerican Historical and Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs (AAHGSCS), incorporating the names of both groups.

AAHGSCS has set up historical and genealogical booths for various events networking with countless organizations.

In addition to this, members have given presentations, workshops, receptions and have sent newsletters all over the U.S.

African-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs African American Firefighters in Colorado Springs Exhibit

Pg. 74 |

African-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs

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Brigadier General Raymond V. McMillan System Integration Office, and assistant deputy chief of staff, systems integration, logistics and support, U.S. Air Force Space Command

Brigadier General Raymond V. McMillan enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in August 1950 and served for over 35 years.

His military decorations and awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, Army

Good Conduct Medal with two bronze loops, National Defense Service Medal with service star, Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with seven oak leaf clusters and Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon. General McMillan also wears the space badge and the senior missile badge.

He was promoted to brigadier general Sept. 1, 1984

[

Read Full Biography at www.af.mil ]

African-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs African American Police Officers in Colorado Springs Exhibit

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Tuskegee Airmen : Colonel Lowell Bell

Air Force Command, Assistant Director of Operational Inspections

He entered USAF Pilot Training in 1955. With over the twenty four plus years he served his country, he was recognized with numerous awards and decorations including the Legion of Merit; the Distinguish Flying Cross; The Bronze Star Medal; The Meritorious Service Medal with one Cluster; The Air medal with 4 Clusters; the Joint Service Commendation Medal; The Air Force Outstanding Unit

Award; the National Defense Service Medal; the Expert Marksmanship Award; the Vietnamese Service Medal; Air Force Long Gevity Service Award and several others awards and decorations. He amassed over 6,000 flying hours in some 23 different airframes. [ Excerpt from https://www.aaylc-co. org ]

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Tuskegee Airmen : Colonel James Randall Fighter Pilot

Colonel James Randall was a member of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, serving 36 years in the U.S. Air Force in both active duty and in the Reserves. His career as a fighter pilot includes logging more than 7,300 flying hours in numerous aircraft, including the F-105 Thunderchief.

Randall joined the Army Air Corps in 1945 and, after completing basic training, was assigned to Tuskegee Army Airfield

in Alabama. He was commissioned as an officer in 1950, then assigned to Perrin Air Force Base, Texas, as a flight instructor. He later moved to Craig AFB, Ala., to be an F-51 instructor. Assigned to the 12th Fighter Bomb Squadron, Randall flew a total of 75 F-51 combat missions in the Korean War.

Later, during the Vietnam conflict, he added 44 additional combat missions to his total before being shot down over

Vietnam. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal and Purple Heart.

Randall is a longtime member of the Tuskegee Airmen National Organization headquartered in Tuskegee, Ala. He currently lives in Colorado Springs, Colo. [ Excerpt from www.veterans-in-blue.af.mil ]

Image courtesy of The Pikes Peak Library District African Americans In Colorado Springs Collection | MSS 0412

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Pamela Butler 1st Black Female Captain in Co. Springs Served 22 Years

Andrew Collins 1st Black Firefighter in Co. Springs 1969

Tommy Smith 1st Black Deputy Chief in Co. Springs 2013

Thomas Exum Sr. Served Over 30 Years

Juliet Draper 2nd Black Female Captain in Co. Springs Professional Body Builder Years of Service. 1996 - Current

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Ron Stallworth 1st Black Detective in Colorado Springs Infiltrated the KKK in the 70’s Served From 1972–1980

Horace Shelby 1st Black Police officer in Colroado Springs First Black City Employee to Earn a Retirement Served From 1887-1906

Henry Cornell 2nd Black Police officer in Colroado Springs Stood 7ft, 1in in height Served From 1892-1920

Fletcher Howard 1st Black Commander in Colorado Springs Served 38 years

Authur N Sapp 1st Black Lieutenant in Colorado Springs Served 38 years

Mary Rosenoff 1st Black Female Commander in Co. Springs Years of Service. 1994 - Current

African-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs African American Police Officers in Colorado Springs Exhibit

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find teaching jobs which placed a financial burden on the family. When Ray Evans was offered a job in Agate, Colorado, the family moved to Denver. Ada Evans hoped to work as a teacher in the Denver Public Schools but could not find any open fulltime positions. She substituted in Denver and Commerce City and worked as a cashier in the supermarket. In 1963, Ray accepted a position as a music director and instructor at South Park High School in Fairplay, a small town about 60 miles southwest of Denver, and commuted there for three years. When a science teacher position at the school became available, Evans was hired. They both moved to Fairplay in 1966.

Ada Evans decided to run for mayor of Fairplay. Of the approximately 500 people living there, Evans and her family were the only African Americans. She ran a campaign focusing on better roads, expansion of recreational facilities, and attracting a light industry. In 1974, she beat the incumbent and another contender by winning 65 votes compared to their 49 and 45 votes respectively. Although the position was nonsalaried, she became the first black woman in Colorado’s history to be elected mayor.

Once she came into office, Evans explored federal revenue-sharing rather than increasing residents’ taxes to pay for muchneeded equipment, facilities, and other resources the town desperately needed. She spent much of her time writing proposals to secure federal funds in order to build rental housing units including two to three duplexes, attract a light industry, and pave the dusty, bumpy streets. Her attempt to expand recreational facilities led to the creation of the South Park Recreation Center years later.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org]

Ada Belle Huff Evans (1932-2011) 1st Black Mayor Of Colorado

Ada Belle Huff Evans was the first African American elected mayor in Colorado. She was born on June 9, 1932 in Langley, South Carolina, a small town located in Aiken County. Much is unknown of her parents and earlier life. However, in 1951, she graduated from Martha Scholfield

High School and attended Bennett College in Columbia. After graduating in 1955, she returned home to work as a teacher at her alma mater, Scholfield High. There, she met her husband, Ray Evans, and started a family.

In the early 1960s, the small-town couple moved to Los Angeles, but they could not

By contributed by: Margaret Reuter

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Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952) 1st Black Oscar Winner

Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins 1st Black President of the National League of Women Voters

In 1994 Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was elected the first African American president of the National League of Women Voters. She became at that time the 15th president of the League in its 74 year history. A native of Ohio, Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins majored in Social Science and Education at Western College for Women in Ohio and received her Master’s in Education in Administration and Supervision from John Carroll University in Ohio. She then obtained her Ph.D. in Urban Education and Administration from Cleveland State University in 1991. Jefferson-Jenkins began her career as a public school teacher and administrator in 1974.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org]

Hattie McDaniel is best known as the first black Oscar winner. She won the award on February 29, 1940, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as “Mammy” in Gone With the Wind. McDaniel’s career began three decades earlier. She gave her first public performances as a grade school student in Denver, Colorado.

Her father, Henry McDaniel, traveled through Colorado with his own minstrel show, but would not allow his daughter to accompany him and her brothers Otis and Sam. McDaniel was allowed to perform locally with the traveling minstrel shows staged at East Turner Hall in Denver.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org]

Contributed by: Moya Hansen

Contributed By: Kate Meakin

Black Past Organization | Archive Image courtesy Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins Archives

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Joseph Rivers (1856-1937)

Publisher of Black Weekly Newspaper

Joseph D.D. Rivers’ name appeared on the second page of The Colorado Statesman (1895–1961), a respected African American weekly newspaper, as editor and publisher for nearly forty years. Rivers started the paper in 1895 and worked diligently to print news from around the country as well as the local news until he

retired in the early 1930s. He died in 1937.

Little seems to be known about his personal life although he was a public figure whose name appears linked to numerous black community organizations. A native of Virginia, his date of birth is noted as either 1856 or 1858. He graduated from Hampton University in 1882, and moved to Denver,

Colorado in 1885. He studied law in Denver and later ran a real estate business.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Moya Hansen

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Lucy Berkeley Buchanan Jones (1884-1989)

1st Black Graduate Of the University of Colorado Lucy (Lucile) Berkeley Buchanan Jones was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Colorado.

Buchanan was born on June 13, 1884, on the second floor of the family’s mule and horse barn in the town of Barnum, southwest of Denver, Colorado. She was the daughter of Sarah Lavinia and James Fenton Buchanan, emancipated slaves from adjoining plantations in northern Virginia.

Sarah and James Buchanan were married in 1872. Within ten years of their marriage the couple, and their four Virginia-born children, migrated to Colorado.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Polly McLean

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Lincoln Hills Country Club Black Resort & Campgrounds

In the years prior to World War II, the Lincoln Hills Country Club was a renowned vacation development for African Americans in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Located in Gilpin County, an hour outside Denver, between Pinecliff and Rollinsville, Lincoln Hills was for years the only African-American resort area west of the Mississippi River. Other African American resorts included Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; Idlewild in Michigan; and American Beach in Florida.

Lincoln Hills was the brainchild of African-American entrepreneurs Robert E. Ewalt and E.C. Regnier, who in 1922 created the Denver-based Lincoln Hills Development Company which sold mountain property to African Americans to build summer cabins at a time when they were not otherwise allowed to obtain lodging or enjoy the amenities of public parks in Colorado.

The resort area extended over 100 acres on both sides of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad which brought the cabin owners and their guests to the resort. Over 600 lots were sold in the 1920s and 1930s.

Most of the lots were small, only 25 feet by 100 feet and they sold for between $50 and $100 depending on the location in the resort.

Some owners came from as far away as New York and California.

Lincoln Hills was also home to Winks Lodge, a full-service resort that was the country club’s major attraction, and Camp Nizhoni, a summer camp for prominent African-American girls offered by the Phyllis Wheatley Branch of the YWCA. [Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Andrea Juarez

Denver Public Library | Collection Lincoln Hills records | ARL-169

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Image Courtesy of Metropolitan State University of Denver

Oliver Toussaint Jackson

19th Century Black Entreprenuer

Rachel B Noel

1st Black Woman in Public Office

Oliver Toussaint Jackson was an example of 19th Century western African American entrepreneurship. Jackson created a restaurant, a farm and a laundry service. His most ambitious venture was the establishment of Dearfield, Colorado, an agricultural colony for African Americans about 70 miles northeast of Denver.

Born in 1862 in Ohio, one year before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Oliver Toussaint Jackson was one of six children of Hezekiah and Caroline Jackson. At 14, Jackson began working in the catering and restaurant business in Ohio. In 1887 when he was 25 years old Oliver and his wife Minerva moved to Denver, Colorado.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org]

Rachel Bassette Noel was the first African American woman to be elected to public office in the state of Colorado. Born on January 15, 1918 in Hampton, Virginia, Noel earned her bachelor’s degree from Hampton University and her master’s in sociology from Fisk University.

In 1942 she married Dr. Edmond F. Noel and a few years later the two moved to Denver, Colorado.

Noel was elected to the Denver Public School’s (DPS) Board of Education in 1961 and was appointed to the school board’s special committee on equal education opportunity in 1962. The committee was created in response to community protest following a DPS-proposed segregated junior high.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org]

Contributed by: Stephen Hill

Contributed by: Alexandra Laird

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Ron Stallworth

1st Black Police Detective In Colorado Springs

Ron Stallworth was the first African American police officer and detective hired by the Colorado Springs Police Department.

He also holds the distinction of being the only African American “member” of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Stallworth was born on June 18, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois, but was raised in El Paso, Texas. He graduated from Austin High School in 1971. The family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in the summer of 1972. He became a cadet in the Fort Carson, Colorado police department on November 13, 1972. He became the first African-American member of the Colorado Springs police department and was sworn in on June 18, 1974, his twenty-first birthday.

Ron Stallworth spent two years in uniform before becoming the youngest

undercover agent in the department. He received his first assignment in April 1975 when former Black Panther Party leader Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) came to speak at a local nightclub. He attended the meeting and spoke briefly with Carmichael afterwards. Stallworth later worked in the intelligence department and in the narcotics division as a detective.

In October of 1978, Stallworth saw an ad in the local Colorado Springs newspaper stating that the Ku Klux Klan was starting a new chapter and looking for members. He subsequently learned that a soldier stationed at nearby Fort Carson placed the ad. Stallworth sent a letter to the post office box listed and included his office telephone number, but he mistakenly signed his real name to the letter, thinking

nothing would come from it. On November 1, 1978, two weeks after sending the letter, Stallworth received a call and was invited to join the KKK. When asked to come to a meet and greet, Stallworth had to use a white undercover officer to take his place. While waiting for his application to come through, Stallworth contacted a regional KKK office and spoke directly with David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

On January 10, 1979, Stallworth was assigned to protect David Duke during his visit to Colorado Springs. During the meeting, he asked Duke to take a picture with him because no one would believe that he was Duke’s bodyguard.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Euell A. Nielsen

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Wilma Webb

Denver’s First Lady

Wilma J. Gerdine Webb was born in Denver, Colorado in 1943. She married Wellington Webb in 1969. Wilma Webb attended the University of Colorado at Denver intermittently from 1970 to 1979 but did not obtain a degree. As a State legislator, she attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1988

Webb entered the political arena in 1980 when she was elected to the Colorado State Legislature. She served 13 years in that position. She was the first African American member of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee (the Legislature’s most powerful six-member committee) and thus participated in writing the state’s $4 billion budget in 1981. Webb was also active in the campaign to make Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday a state holiday in Colorado. In 1984, the bill she sponsored became law.

Wilma Webb served as Denver’s First Lady for twelve years after her husband was elected the first African American mayor of the city in 1991. In that capacity, she chaired special governmental committees, managed personnel, and represented the City and County of Denver at key public/private meetings and events.

In 1997, Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman appointed Webb to serve as the Secretary’s representative for the Department’s Region VIII where she was responsible for the administration and enforcement of 180 federal statutes governing workplace activities in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. In this position, Webb helped oversee this region’s portion of a $37.9 billion Department of Labor budget and its eighteen department agencies.

Wilma Webb and her husband, Wellington, are the parents of four adult children. She is also a member of Denver’s Zion Baptist Church, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and The Links, Inc. [Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Yvonne Tollette Wallace Black Past Organization | Archive Image courtsey Wilma J. Webb

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Deerfield, Colorado

Black Agricultural Colony

On May 5, 1910 after four years of searching for a location that would accommodate two hundred families, Oliver Toussaint Jackson established Dearfield, a black agricultural colony on the arid high plains of Colorado. Jackson managed to gain the support of the Colorado chapter of the National Negro Business League, but the group withdrew their support after Booker T. Washington, the national president, refused to endorse the project. Unable to acquire another backer for the project Jackson and a few brave families began the settlement on their own.

According to Jackson, during the first winter in Dearfield only two of the seven families “had wooden houses and the suffering was intense.” He said “buffalo chips and sagebrush was our chief fuel.

Three of our horses died from starvation and the other three were too weak to pull the empty wagon.”

By 1915 Dearfield had gone from seven families living in tents, dugouts and caves in the hillside to twenty-seven families living in wooden cabins. The next five years would see the settlement grow to a population of seventy with their own school, restaurant, grocery store, boarding house, and two churches.

Unfortunately the end of World War I in 1918 also brought an end to the settlement’s sturdy growth. As the demand for their crops dropped the families began to default on their mortgages and equipment loans. One by one the families sold their farms until there were only twelve people living in Dearfield in 1940. The last resident was Jackson’s niece Jenny Jackson, who lived there until her death in 1973.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Stephen Hill

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5 Points Community

Black Community In Denver

Denver, Colorado’s Five Points community originated in the 1880s as an upper middle-class neighborhood for professional and business men. The city built one of its first cable streetcar lines into the area and numerous neighborhood businesses emerged along its tracks. White residents initially occupied the area, but a few prosperous African American families began moving in around the turn of the century.

A major influx of black residents came between 1911 and 1929 when housing developments sprang up elsewhere in the city. These new homes with their modern conveniences such as electrical wiring, plumbing, and garages, attracted many away from older neighborhoods. About the same time, the city extended Broadway, a major north-south artery, through older black neighborhoods. These two factors provided both the impetus and the opportunity for a

population shift. Five Points soon became the focal point of activities in a community of nearly 6,000 African American residents.

Black doctors, lawyers, dentists, clergy, railroad porters, as well as cooks, janitors, domestic servants, and other service workers all made their homes in Five Points, attending its many churches, patronizing black businesses, supporting three newspapers, a YMCA and YWCA, baseball clubs, and social activities of all kinds. Five Points residents wanted for little other than the opportunity to move into other neighborhoods or into higher economic brackets through education and jobs.

Although Five Points was one of the most prosperous black communities in the West...

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org] Contributed by: Moya Hansen

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Black America West Museum & Dr. Justina Laurena Ford

“The Lady Doctor”, Dr. Justina Laurena Ford was the first Black Woman Licensed Physician to practice in Denver, Colorado from 1902 - 1952. Indeed her mother’s daughter, who was a nurse. And by her, Dr. Ford’s blooming interest in obstetrics and homeopathic care was cultivated as she accompanied her mother when she tended to patients some years after the Civil War. As an adult, the young apprentice would later expound upon her mother’s novice teachings

at Hering Medical College, from which she graduated in 1899. She had married Baptist Minister, John Ford in 1892, who first move to Denver to minister at Zion Baptist Church.

Dr. Ford joined him in 1902, whereafter settling in she received her Colorado medical license.

By Dr. Ford’s hands, thousands of men and women healed of their afflictions, and the diverseness of her clientele made her multilingual in more than seven languages.

As notoriety of her medicinal mastery expanded, Dr. Ford became affectionately regarded as “The Lady Doctor,” and to others, “The Baby Doctor.” She would

pioneer many holistic treatments and safely deliver an estimated 7000 babies (1 baby every three days) during her revolutionary career.

Today the museum houses relics of other African Americans’ significance in shaping the Colorado we know today.

Their artifacts chronicle periods between 1860 – 1950 (Civil War to WWII). Visitors are permitted reasonably priced admission to a self-guided tour of Dr. Ford’s two-story, five-bedroom home wherein one can find the very room from which she practiced and survey her medical instruments in pristine condition.

Courtesy of the Black American West Museum

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A Place For Black Cowboys Founder Paul W. Stewart

Paul W. Stewart, founder of the Black American West Museum, grew up in Iowa playing cowboys and Indians with his friends who always made him play an Indian. They assured him that there were no black cowboys and thus he had to play the role of the Indian. As an adult living in Denver, Stewart discovered this was not true and began a lifetime search for stories, photographs, clothing, memorabilia, and papers to document the existence of black cowboys in the West.

Stewart’s passion led him beyond cowboys and he accumulated an extensive collection related to black Western pioneers that he wanted to share with others. In 1971, the collection served as the nucleus of a small museum that opened in the basement of Denver’s Clayton College.

In 1983, when community leaders learned that a developer planned to raze the Dr. Justina Ford House, they requested a delay to allow them to find funds and a location for its removal. The developer complied and Historic Denver, Inc., a private non-profit group, gave preservation funds to move the home in 1984 to its current California Street location in Five Points.

[Read Full Article at Blackpast.org]

Ison Dart | Cowboy 1849-1900 Courtesy of the Black American West Museum

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Denver Public Library | Collection Call Number | Z-275

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Clara Brown 1803-1885

Clara Brown (c. 1803–85) was an ex-slave who became a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and humanitarian in Denver and Central City. She is said to be the first African American woman to have traveled West during the Colorado Gold Rush.

While in Central City, she established Gilpin County’s first laundry as well as Colorado’s first Protestant church. She opened her home to freed slaves and hosted church services, which earned her the nickname “Aunt” Clara. Brown was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2012 a hill in Gilpin County formerly named “Negro Hill” was renamed “Clara Brown Hill” in honor of Brown’s contributions to the county’s history.

traceable. This left Brown to search for her youngest daughter, Eliza Jane.

Early Life

Clara Brown was born into slavery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, around 1803.

She is presumed to have been separated from her father but remained with her mother for her entire childhood. Clara and her mother were later moved to Kentucky to work on a tobacco farm with their Virginian owners.

By the age of eighteen, Clara was married to a fellow slave named Richard, and they had four children—Richard Jr., Margaret, and twins Paulina Ann and Eliza Jane. However, Brown was soon separated from her family; Paulina Ann drowned at a young age, and her husband and the rest of her children were sold after their owner passed.

The Long Journey’s End

Clara eventually earned enough money to finally start searching for her family. Clara began her search as an official representative for Frederick Pitkin, a Republican governor of Colorado, helping former slaves establish themselves as freedmen and women. Her search first began in Kentucky, and she soon learned of her family’s mostly unfortunate fate. However, she was successful in helping freed slaves reestablish themselves in Colorado. Then, in 1882 Clara located her daughter Eliza Jane in Council Bluffs, Iowa. That same year, Clara returned to Denver with her granddaughter.

She was voted into the Society of Colorado Pioneers in 1884. Clara Brown died on October 23, 1885. Her legacy lives on in the City Opera House, Denver’s capitol building, and in Central City, where she has a hill named in honor of her and the rest of Colorado’s black pioneers.

New Beginnings

In 1859, at fifty-six years of age, Clara was freed by her owner, George Brown, according to Kentucky state law. Clara’s first and foremost objective was to be reunited with her family, but she eventually found out about their tragic fates. Her husband, Richard, and daughter Margaret had died in slavery, and her son, Richard Jr., had been sold so many times that he was no longer

In 1859 Clara served as a midwife and cook for a wagon train headed West, eventually bringing her to Denver. She soon relocated herself to Central City, where she established the first laundry in Gilpin County. During her stay, Clara accumulated a large sum of savings and eventually acquired housing and mining properties worth around $10,000 (roughly $1,000,000 today) in both Denver and Boulder. From then on, Clara earned herself the nickname “Aunt” Clara for providing shelter and food for the local townspeople as well as help establish Colorado’s first Protestant church.

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Zion Baptist Church 1865- Present

Organized by former slaves on November 15, 1865, Zion Baptist Church is the oldest black congregation in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. Since 1913, the church has occupied a large Romanesque Revival building at 933 East Ogden Street in Five Points, which was originally built in the early 1890s for Calvary Baptist Church. Long one of the central institutions in Denver’s black community, Zion Baptist celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2015.

Early Years

Zion Baptist Church was established by a small group of freedmen who gathered at the corner of Eighteenth and Market Streets in Denver. Some sources date the church’s origins as early as 1863, but the church itself recognizes November 15, 1865 as the date of its founding. In either case, it is the oldest primarily black

congregation in Colorado, probably the oldest in the Rocky Mountain region, and one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River. The founders of Zion Baptist, led by the Reverend William Norrid, quickly acquired two lots at the corner of Twentieth and Arapahoe Streets, and in 1869 they built a small wood-frame church.

As Denver grew rapidly in the 1870s, Zion Baptist and its friendly rival, Shorter Community African Methodist Episcopal Church, became twin pillars of the local black community. Zion Baptist’s congregation expanded and included many of the city’s black business owners and politicians. To accommodate its growth and give itself a statelier building, in 1880 it replaced the original church on Arapahoe Street with a larger brick building at the same location.

Zion Baptist became known as the “mother church” of other black Baptist congregations in the West, many of which grew out of or were encouraged by the prominent Denver church. In 1891,

for example, the church split under the Reverend W.P.T. Jones, who left with about thirty other members to establish Central Baptist Church.

New Building

By the early 1900s, when Justina Ford’s first husband, John Ford, served as pastor of Zion Baptist, Denver’s black population was starting to migrate northeast from downtown to the formerly white Five Points neighborhood. As Five Points changed and whites moved away, many white congregations in the area chose to follow their members to new neighborhoods elsewhere. Black congregations formerly located closer to downtown were sometimes able to move into Five Points by acquiring churches vacated by whites.

This was the case with Zion Baptist, which in 1911 acquired the building that Calvary Baptist Church was leaving at the northwest corner of East TwentyFourth Avenue and North Ogden Street.

Designed by architects Frank H. Jackson

Denver Public Library | Collection Image Call Number | Z-865

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and George F. Rivinius, the building was originally constructed in 1890–93. It was a rectangular Romanesque Revival church with a rusticated stone exterior and semicircular arched windows. A single tower above the main entrance rose more than four stories above the street.

At its new location, Zion Baptist’s congregation grew to 1,000 members, and it solidified its status as one of the leading religious organizations in Denver. Although the church lost members and fell into debt in the early 1930s, it was rejuvenated by the Reverend William H. Young and his nephew, the Reverend Wendell T. Liggins, who served from 1941 to 1991. Liggins became a political force in the city, serving on boards for the Regional Transportation District and the Denver Public Library and occasionally as the chaplain for the Colorado General Assembly.

By the 1960s, Zion Baptist had grown to more than 2,000 members. With the end of racially restrictive housing covenants, Denver’s black community was

spreading from Five Points to other parts of the city. The church considered moving and bought land in Northeast Park Hill for a new sanctuary and school. Ultimately, it decided to stay at its historic Five Points home, acquire nearby buildings for social and educational ministries, and use the Northeast Park Hill land for a seniors’ home called Liggins Tower.

congratulatory letters from President Barack Obama, Senator Michael Bennet, Governor John Hickenlooper, Mayor Michael Hancock, and a variety of other local political figures.

Hancock issued a proclamation declaring November 2–8, 2015, as “Zion Baptist Church Week” in Denver.

Today

In 1969 Zion Baptist’s historic building was listed as a Denver landmark, and in 1986 it became part of the San Rafael National Historic District. A wide variety of civil rights activists have spoken at the church over the years, including A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jesse Jackson. The church’s members include Denver’s first black mayor, Wellington Webb.

The church maintains an active role in the local community and offers an array of social services and volunteer opportunities.

In 2015 the congregation celebrated its 150th anniversary and received

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Colorado Encyclopedia | Pg. 97

Oliver Toussaint 1862-1948

Oliver Toussaint “O. T.” Jackson (1862–1948) was an entrepreneur and prominent member of black communities in Denver and Boulder during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In 1910 he founded Dearfield, an-all black agricultural settlement some twenty-five miles southeast of Greeley. Jackson firmly believed that successful blacks should work to help poorer blacks and that land

ownership and agriculture were keys to a prosperous future for African Americans.

Although Dearfield is a ghost town today, the community’s success from 1915 through the 1930s was a testament to Jackson’s leadership and solidified his place among Colorado’s notable visionaries of the twentieth century.

Early Life

Oliver Toussaint Jackson was born on April 6, 1862, in Oxford, Ohio, the son

of former slaves Hezekiah and Caroline Jackson. They named him after Toussaint L’Ouverture, the maroon slave who successfully overthrew the French in Haiti in 1804. In 1887 O. T. Jackson moved from the Midwest to the Denver area, where he worked as a caterer.

In 1889 he married Sarah “Sadie” Cook, aunt of the famous composer Will Marion Cook. By 1894 Jackson had made enough money to buy a farm outside Boulder, which he owned for sixteen years.

He lived at 2228 Pine Street in Boulder and, in addition to his farm, he began operating the Stillman Café and Ice Cream Parlor on Thirteenth Street. In 1898 he became a staff manager at the Chautauqua Dining Hall, supervising seventy people (and possibly owning the food concession). Jackson also owned and operated a restaurant at Fiftyfifth and Arapahoe Streets that became famous for its seafood. The eatery remained popular until it closed when Boulder went dry in 1907.

Confusion exists about whether Jackson and his first wife divorced or if she died. In either case, he married Minerva J. Matlock, a schoolteacher from Missouri, on July 14, 1905. In 1908 Jackson returned to Denver, where he began a twenty-year career as a messenger for Colorado governors.

Dearfield

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, some 20 percent of blacks in the United States worked in agriculture, but few owned the land they worked on.

Inspired by Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery (1901), Jackson believed that farming their own fields would empower black Coloradans, and he tried to start an all-black agricultural colony. The state land office, however, often ignored his requests because he was black. Jackson eventually secured the help of Governor John F. Shafroth, for whom he worked as a messenger, and obtained land for his colony.

In 1909, after considering three tracts of homestead land in Larimer, Elbert, and Weld Counties, Jackson selected a 320-acre tract in Weld County near present-day Orchard. Like other agricultural communities along the Front Range, Jackson’s would be modeled

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after the Union Colony, founded in 1870.

But unlike the Union Colony, which was backed by wealthy newspaperman Horace Greeley, Jackson’s colony did not garner financial support from prominent black organizations, so he was left to realize his dream on his own.

In December 1909, Jackson formed the Negro Townsite and Land Company to develop the colony. That year, Dr. Joseph H.P. Westbrook of Denver, one of the colony’s first settlers and most ardent supporters, remarked that the colony “will be very dear to us,” thus bestowing a name, Dearfield, on the new community. Dearfield was officially established in 1910.

Jackson’s family and the rest of Dearfield’s early settlers had many problems.

Some were so poor they could not afford to ship their possessions from Denver, so they walked part of the distance. Among this group only two families could afford to erect a twelve-by-fourteen-foot building with a fence. The other five families had to live in tents or in holes dug in a hillside. Sometimes the men had to work on other farms to earn spending money while their wives and children worked the land. There were also continual shortages of fuel—many residents burned buffalo chips to keep warm—and

water.

Over time, however, the colony prospered. Residents raised a variety of crops and livestock, including corn, melons, squash, hay, sugar beets, alfalfa, ducks, chickens, and turkey. A surge in prices for agricultural products during World War I helped the community, and by 1921 Dearfield’s land was valued at $750,000 and supported a population of 700. But despite the determination of Jackson and the rest of Dearfield’s residents, the Great Depression and Dust Bowl of the 1930s decimated the colony. By 1940 only twelve residents remained.

As people left, Jackson sold Dearfield’s buildings for lumber because it was so scarce. Some folks in the 1930s sold out for five dollars a house. Even before he became ill in 1946, Jackson had been searching for a young black man to keep his dream alive. He told a returning World War II serviceman who had lived with the Jacksons as a boy that “he could have the whole thing” if he would come out to Dearfield and run the place for him. The young man’s new bride did not want any part of it, so he declined.

Later Life

Jackson’s wife Minerva died in 1942. When he could not find any willing

buyers for the property, in 1943 he asked his nieces, Jenny Jackson and Daisy Edwards, to come to Dearfield. Daisy came for a short time, while Jenny stayed to nurse her uncle in his last years.

Illness and age had overtaken Jackson’s messianic zeal. In 1946, at the age of eighty-four, he again tried to sell Dearfield with an advertisement in the Greeley Tribune. He had no takers. The land remained in Jackson’s possession until his death in a Greeley hospital on February 8, 1948. He had lived in Dearfield for thirtyeight years. His dutiful niece Jenny, who had cared for him the last five years of his life, remained alone in Dearfield for more than twenty years until her death in 1973.

The Dearfield site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Today, several preservation organizations, including Denver’s Black American West Museum, are working to restore the site’s six original buildings and develop Dearfield into an interpretive historical site.

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Colorado Encyclopedia | Pg. 99

Henry O. Wagner Businessman

Long before he became a community leader and successful businessman in Denver, Henry O. Wagoner (1816-1901) was a staunch activist of the abolitionist movement, a typesetter and journalist for several radical anti-slavery newspapers, and a primary school teacher.

He helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad in Maryland, Illinois, and even in Chatham, Ontario in Canada. As an active participant in the antislavery movement, he met and corresponded with several prominent abolitionists of his era—and cultivated a close and enduring friendship with the indomitable orator and statesman Frederick Douglass. This formative and influential friendship lasted for fifty years. Though Wagoner was not a central figure of the abolitionist movement, he was certainly a prominent one, and his contributions deserve more than peripheral attention. Wagoner was unfailingly persistent in his efforts to assist fellow African Americans, and adamant about obtaining equal access to education, the right to vote, and the right to own property in a new era of territorial expansion and possibility.

Born on February 27, 1816 in Hagerstown, MD to a German father and an African American mother freed from slavery, Wagoner learned to read from his paternal grandmother. After working with the Underground Railroad in Baltimore, he headed West and worked as a primary school teacher in Ohio and Missouri before settling in in Galena, Illinois. Wagoner learned how to set type while working at the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser, and continued helping fugitive slaves navigate their way to freedom. In 1843, Wagoner moved to Chatham, Ontario, which

was a popular end point of the Underground Railroad. He worked at the Chatham Journal and taught primary school. He was married in 1844 and lived in Ontario with his wife Susan, until they decided to move to Chicago in 1846. Over the course of their lives, they had seven daughters and a son.

Wagoner’s anti-slavery activism, business acumen, and close personal relationships grew in breadth and depth in Chicago. Prior to meeting Frederick Douglass in 1849 after one of Douglass’ public lectures, Wagoner wrote to him in January, 1848. “I must confess that I have felt a secret joy ever since I first heard your name spoken in connection with the “North Star.” The whole civilized world seems to have turned their attention somewhat towards the subject of human rights, therefore you will not be entirely alone in your new undertaking.”

(Frederick Douglass Papers: 1842-1852, p.

286) He saw in Canada how communitybased institutions could help black settlers purchase property, and was eager to share his insights.

“On looking abroad over this land, and reflecting on the impoverished condition of our unfortunate and disfranchised countrymen a plan has occurred to me, which, if it is worthy of notice, I beg you or some one [sic] else will urge its claims, after putting it into a favorable shape. [. . .] We are all too poor, as a general thing, and we must be awakened to every species of enterprise. [. . .] I would now say to you, to urge our people to push forward and make themselves owner of the soil. This certainly can be brought about by using great preserving industry, joined to the most rigid economy.” (Frederick Douglass Papers: 1842-1852, p.286-289)

It is clear this was also his personal philosophy. After working as an occasional correspondent for Douglass’ newspaper,

Wagoner soon acquired a mill and became a businessman. He produced specialty southern-style corn meal, which was very profitable. Wagoner met Barney L. Ford, an escaped slave from South Carolina, who arrived in Chicago via the Underground Railroad. They became good friends, colleagues, and eventually brother-in-laws.

Their close ties were established more than a decade before they fought for and eventually secured black male suffrage in Colorado in 1867, when Congress passed legislation prohibiting restrictions in male suffrage in all of the Western territories.

Wagoner moved to Denver in 1865, and established a number of businesses over the years. By 1870 he was considered to be one of the wealthiest African Americans in Colorado. He was active in Republican politics, and fought for equal access to education for Denver’s African American community. He and Lewis Henry Douglass, one of Frederick Douglass’ sons, taught reading and writing to black adults in his home until the Denver school board approved a segregated school building in 1867, and integrated public schools in 1873. A firm believer in the principles of democracy, Wagoner was appointed a clerk in the first Colorado Legislature in 1876, and later appointed deputy sheriff of Arapahoe County in 1880. He died at his home in 1901.

Throughout the course of his life, Henry O. Wagoner consistently fought for the rights of African Americans, drawing upon his considerable political and social clout as a respected citizen and businessman.

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Barney Ford Businessman

Throughout his life, Barney Lancelot Ford demonstrated considerable resilience while enduring cycles of professional booms and busts—great successes undercut by fire, war, and racism.

Despite these challenges he forged on, making a name for himself as a businessman and a civil-rights pioneer in Colorado.

Born into slavery on January 22, 1822, to a Virginia woman and a white plantation owner, Ford grew up in South Carolina, taught himself to read and write, and escaped slavery in his late teens, making his way to Chicago via the Underground Railroad.

In Chicago, Ford met and fell in love with Julia Lyon. She helped him choose his middle and last names. Now a free man, he decided on Lancelot Ford—the name of a steam engine he’d seen. The two married in 1849. Ford worked as a barber and actively supported the Chicago abolitionist and Underground Railroad efforts. During that time, he met and worked with Henry O. Wagoner, a correspondent for the Frederick Douglass’ Paper based in Rochester, New York. Wagoner became a close friend of Ford’s. Their strong friendship and a shared belief in the importance of political involvement formed the bedrock of their contributions to the African American community in Colorado several years later.

In 1851, Barney and Julia ventured to California with the intent of prospecting for gold. They boarded a ship in New York City and sailed around the tip of the continent; traveling across land would be too great of a risk for an escaped slave and his wife. They never made it to California; instead, they settled in a town in Nicaragua, where Ford opened the United States Hotel and Restaurant. He did very well, but his business was destroyed in the ensuing civil war. Additional businesses he acquired in nearby towns were also destroyed by fire or storms over the next few years. Yet Ford persisted.

In 1860, Ford left for Colorado to prospect for gold and was one of first people to arrive in the gold-rich deposits above Breckenridge. He and his party discovered a claim that was rightfully theirs. At the time, Colorado law prohibited black men from owning homesteads or mining claims. In the middle of the night they were viciously chased away by law enforcement, who destroyed their supplies and threatened their lives. That didn’t deter him. Ford and his family moved to Denver and established the elegant Inter-Ocean Hotel and opened up Ford’s Chop House in the mining town of Breckenridge. He was very successful over the years, and eventually built a five-room cottage in Breckenridge—today’s Barney Ford Museum.

In Denver, Ford was part of a politically influential contingent of black pioneers who fought against Colorado’s bid for statehood in 1864, because the amendment to the constitution excluded

black men from voting. The bill was vetoed for other reasons, but in 1867 Congress passed legislation prohibiting restrictions in male suffrage in all of the territories. In the 1870s Ford and Wagoner, now two of the richest black men in Colorado, fought for equal education for their children and started evening classes to teach members of the community about principles of democratic government. Shortly thereafter, they opened up a school for African American children.

Barney Ford’s perseverance and contributions in the face of adversity are a testament to his vision and desire to make a better life for himself, his family, and the black community. He was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame and the Colorado Black Hall of Fame and is honored with a stained-glass window, located on the west wall of the CO State House Chambers, directly behind the desk of the Speaker of the House.” [ Article written By History Colorado ]

Inter-Ocean Hotel in Denver, Owned By Barney Ford

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Portrait of Fannie Mae Duncan

Everybody’s Welcome

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