3 Black Coloradans sit on a porch in the mountains and smile at the camera.

We Are Colorado

Black History & Heritage

You cannot have a thorough understanding of American history unless you have an understanding of how the Black experience has impacted our country. History Colorado is dedicated to sharing a holistic view of historic events that include the perspectives of all people. This page is dedicated to highlighting the contributions made by people who identify as Black, African-American, or generally part of the African diaspora, as it relates to the history of the West. History Colorado creates a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. 

Exhibitions & Experiences

Events

Black Lives Matter

The past few years have caused an awakening in America. The rise of a race-conscious reckoning in the United States has been fueled by the countless murders of African Americans from Elijah McClain to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Say Their Names. 

The cleverness of racism in the United States facilitates the faceless and namelessness of the lives snuffed out. The Black community has always known the ever-present racial violence that belied the narrative of a post-racial society. History Colorado, awakened like so many Americans to this injustice and decided to do better. History Colorado strives to make history more inclusive by placing marginalized communities at the forefront and actively identifying and combating white supremacy in all of its forms.

Black History & Cultural Heritage Department

The Black History and Cultural Heritage Department of History Colorado is dedicated to exploring the impact African Americans have had on the American West. Too often the contributions of those identified as African Americans have gone unnoticed, underappreciated, or removed from history all together. By creating educational and engaging content, programs, and exhibits that focus on the Black experience in Colorado the Black History and Cultural Heritage Department aims to inspire wonder in our past and work towards a better future. For further inquiries please contact Acoma Gaither, Associate Curator of Black History at: acoma.gaither@state.co.us.

Contact the Black History and Cultural Heritage Department for:

  • Research related to Black History in Colorado 
  • Artifact collection & Exhibits
  • Digitization of photographs, records, etc.
  • Oral histories

How should history be told? Rising Colorado voices are pushing museums to rethink their approach →

History Colorado working to share African American stories →

Moving the Five Points mural →

The history of Barney Ford, 200 years later →

How should history be told? Rising Colorado voices are pushing museums to rethink their approach →

Equity & Engagement Department

The Equity and Engagement Department at History Colorado houses a diverse team where each member focuses on various points of diversity and engagement. For Black communities, the goal of equity and representation are at the forefront. Striving to give a platform for the voices of Black communities to celebrate and educate their histories through co-authorship. The Equity and Engagement department strives to bring awareness and show how community involvement is paramount in creating diverse and holistic storytelling throughout history.

Contact the Equity and Engagement Department for:

  • Exterior of Winks Lodge at Lincoln Hills

    Lincoln Hills Museum of Memory: Black Joy, Leisure, and the Remembrance of Place in the Colorado Outdoors

    Lincoln Hills is a historic symbol of Black autonomy, wellness, and joy. It offered a reprieve from segregation through nature, community, and cultural expression. This collection features six oral histories and photographs that shine light to travel and leisure experiences of Black Coloradans in the 20th century, as shown through personal stories of camping, shared meals, spiritual connection to the land, and sensory memories of music, laughter, and the outdoors. These living memories speak to the transformative power of Lincoln Hills as a space of resistance and belonging.

  • Five Points photo 4

    Five Points Plus Neighborhood Memory Project

    Five Points Plus: Neighborhood Memory Project is a community-based public memory project where long-time resident families and friends of Denver’s Five Points shared their memories of the neighborhood with each other and History Colorado from fall 2020 to spring 2021. From the voice and perspective of community storytellers, the project explores the history of diversity, music, and self-sufficiency in Five Points, a neighborhood shaped by racism and segregation in the 20th century and that is facing reshaping due to development and displacement.

    Learn more about the Exhibit recently on view at the History Colorado Center →

Dr. Carlotta LaNier at the Bold Women. Change History. opening event at the History Colorado Center
Volunteer Family Day participants making cloth dog toys for dogs in animal shelters
An elderly Black woman, Lucy Walker, is seated in a colorful shawl before a sign which reads Eden Theatrical Workshop (since 1963)
A statuette depicts a man in three stages. The lowest level depicts him crouched in bondage, wearing the chains of a slave. The second level depicts him crouched with a gold pan. The third level at the peak of the plinth shows him standing tall and proud.
Adri Norris, a Black woman, and a man of asian descent dance and celebrate with their fists raised in front of a colorful mural.
A claw-hook hammer of old fashioned design, with a worn wooden handle and a sturdy metal head.
Rise Jones, a community storyteller as part of the Five Points Museum of Memory project, at the opening of the Five Points Plus exhibit at the History Colorado Center.
A pen and ink drawing of James Beckwourth, a Black fur trapper.
Artist in the process of painting a large indoor mural.
A group of people stand in front of a farm or small homestead. One is a black man in a business suit. Around him stand several Indigenous (Ute) adults, and near him stand two Ute children.
A Kramerica student volunteers with Family Day participants to make decorative bags for goods to be distributed to people in need. 
An architectural sketch depicting a building.
A Black soldier stands at attention in his parade uniform, with a saber in one hand.

The Colorado Magazine  

The Colorado Magazine gives voice to writers who share our passion for the past and the Centennial State.

Domestic Terror Strikes Denver - August 15, 2025→

How racial violence entrenched segregation around City Park.

A Black Studies Professor’s View on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” - August 1, 2025→

Freedom is precious, and attaining it demands much of our nation.

Speaking Out for Self - March 17, 2025→

The Black struggle to regain the right to vote in territorial Colorado, 1864–1867.

Tag Team Back Again - February 28, 2025→

History Colorado curators Acoma Gaither and Tara Kaufman recently sat down with Cecil “DC” Glenn and Steve Gibson of the iconic hip-hop duo Tag Team, who got their start in Denver and whose single “Whoomp! (There It Is)” went multi-platinum in the ’90s.

Ada Belle Evans - December 6, 2024→

The trailblazing Black mayor who changed the face of Colorado.

Black Cowboys Unveiled - June 7, 2024

Popular culture has largely written Black cowboys out of the West. Evidence from History Colorado’s archives reminds us of their centrality to the story. 

Who’s Hoo? - 

The Owl Club’s debutante debuts set the stage for many prestigious African Americans in the Mile High City.

Sanctuary, Refuge, and Shelter - 

A cornerstone of the African American community in Pueblo, First AME Church honors and shares its history as it pursues historic designation.

A Mile-High Life in Barbecue: "Daddy" Bruce Randolph, Sr. - 

Colorado's most prominent pitmaster in the twentieth century, "Daddy" Bruce was as famous for his generosity as he was for his sauce.

The Little World Series of the West: Integrating Baseball in Denver - 

Black baseball players shaped the game and American society beyond the ballfield. It’s a story that runs, surprisingly, straight through Denver and an event that called itself “The Little World Series of the West.”

Don’t Leave Home Without Your Green Book: The Black Travel Experience in Colorado During the Jim Crow Era - 

During the rise of auto travel for both business and leisure in the twentieth century, the Green Book helped Black travelers safely navigate their road trips and boost Black businesses along the way.

“Curse of a Nation”: Denver Black Newspapers Respond to the Debut of “Birth of a Nation” - 

How Denver’s Black newspapers raised the alarm and rallied the resistance against one of Hollywood’s first—and most notoriously racist—blockbusters.

The John R. Henderson Collection: Colorado’s First Licensed Black Architect - 

On October 7, 1959, John R. Henderson, Jr. registered to practice architecture in Colorado, becoming the first licensed Black architect in the state.

Health, Recreation, Education, and Uplift: Lincoln Hills and Black Recreation in the Colorado Mountains - 

When temperatures soared in cramped, noisy cities, Colorado’s higher elevations promised chilly nights and mild days spent fishing, camping, and hiking under shady pine trees. Unlike their white counterparts, however, African Americans could not head just anywhere in the mountains. Not far outside of Denver, Lincoln Hills, a vacation community developed for Black people, represented both an escape from the city and an escape from segregation.

We Can’t Afford to Fail This Time - 

On the evening of July 12, 1967, in Newark, New Jersey, two white police officers badly beat a black cab driver named John William Smith in the course of arresting him for a traffic violation. News of this spread like wildfire through the African American community, and angry crowds gathered outside the police station.

James Beckwourth: African Americans in History and the West - 

There are countless examples of African Americans who left their mark on every stage of history, despite societal and cultural obstacles in the way. However, their stories are often not told or represented either during their lifetime or after. One who defied all constraints of the time and whose name became famous nationwide both during his lifetime and long after his death was James P. Beckwourth.

Podcasts  

From oral histories to lectures to in-depth stories about special Colorado people and places, our podcasts offer opportunities to learn more about our state and its history.

The Colorado Magazine Podcast

For 100 years, The Colorado Magazine has been bringing the Centennial State's rich history to a wide audience. In those storied pages hundreds of authors cover thousands of topics across Colorado's diverse culture and heritage. And now, we're excited to bring you audio versions of our very favorite articles, read by real historians and authors. 

Black Cowboys Unveiled - September 22, 2025→

Associate Curator of Black History Acoma Gaither brings us the story of Black cowboys in the American west.

Lost Highways

History Colorado’s critically acclaimed podcast, Lost Highways: Dispatches from the Shadows of the Rocky Mountains, expands the history of the American West by exploring how overlooked stories from the past have shaped current world events and continue to impact our lives today.

You Don't Know Barney Ford - 

Cathay Williams/William Cathay: Buffalo Soldier - 

Cathay Williams was an African American Woman who was conscripted to work as General Philip Sheridan's cook during the Civil War. When the war was over, she wanted to join one of the all-Black Army Regiments that later became known as the “Buffalo Soldiers." But women weren't allowed to serve at that time. So she put on men's clothes, changed her name to William Cathay, and spent the next three years as a Buffalo Soldier in the "Wild West."

The Original BlacKkKlansman - 

Game Changers - 

One hundred years ago, a pitcher with a nasty curveball and a mind for business named Rube Foster formed "the Negro Leagues." In a story that in many ways mirrors American history from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans in baseball shaped the game and American society beyond the ballfield. It’s a story that runs, surprisingly, straight through Denver and an event that called itself “The Little World Series of the West.”

The Dearest Field - 

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, all-Black settlements sprang up throughout the West as formerly enslaved people and their descendants sought to build a better life.

External Resources for Black History