We Are Colorado

History Colorado has become a force for finding new and inclusive ways to serve Coloradans. In 2018 History Colorado provided programs to more than 18,000 students in their own schools, and assisted more than 40 schools with bus funds, to expand efforts that now serve more than 85,000 students annually. Its all-day Hands-On History program at El Pueblo History Museum responds to the four-day school week that is now administered by 61% of Colorado school districts.

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  Year of La Chicana

  A partnership between History Colorado and the El Movimiento Community Advisory Committee, Year of La Chicana celebrates and honors La Chicana past, present and future and shares her story with a wide range of audiences.

  During this year we are working with community to connect the core issues of the Chicano movement with present day issues of social justice, identity and inclusion.

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  Museum of Memory Initiative

  Museum of Memory is a public history initiative that works together with Colorado residents to co-author a shared history. We collaboratively work to reanimate, center and amplify the histories that have long existed only in the margins and create the opportunity for the community to decide how to remember its collective past.

  Preserving Shared Histories -  Read about the Youth Memory Project, a partnership between Bruce Randolph School, CSU, and History Colorado.   

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  Lost Highways: Dispatches from the Shadows of the Rocky Mountains

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  NAGPRA Program

  History Colorado has adopted an active program of implementing the provisions of the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Our NAGPRA program philosophy is summarized in the following statement:

  NAGPRA calls for the establishment of new relationships between museums and Native Americans—relationships that reflect a spirit of cooperative interaction and partnership. It is of critical importance that History Colorado staff and administrators support an approach to NAGPRA issues that reflects a commitment to sustaining such relationships. This requires open and full communications with interested Native American communities and lineal descendants regarding History Colorado collections, as well as an institutional intent to consider repatriation claims for human remains and objects that fall under the law.

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  LGBTQ+ Coloradans

  The annual Denver PrideFest has anchored the LGBTQ+ community since June 1974, when it was known as Gay Pride Week. The event has evolved in step with social and political change. Today, PrideFest is when members and friends of the LGBTQ+ community connect, have fun, show pride, and proclaim their support for LGBTQ+ rights. 

  It also commemorates a pivotal moment in gay rights history: the Stonewall Riots.

  In the late 1960s and ’70s, gay community life centered around gay bars—the hubs of social and activist movements. At the Stonewall Inn, a popular bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, police harassment was nothing new. But, according to media and eyewitness accounts, what motivated the police raid on the night of June 28, 1969, was not that the bar patrons were gay, but that they were gender-nonconforming men—drag queens—who dressed as women for entertainment purposes. 

  That night, the police demanded that the men dressed in women’s clothing produce ID or come to the station with them. When the men refused, the police determined to take them all in. As they handcuffed and beat a woman in the crowd, she looked up and asked, “Why don’t you guys do anything?” With those words, the crowd that had gathered over the course of the raid took action—initiating what many consider the modern LGBT rights movement. Gay men, transvestites, drag queens, and lesbians fought back, in riots that lasted six nights. When it was over, the first gay rights organizations formed in New York City, then spread across the nation and the world. The riots’ first anniversary initiated gay pride marches in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago; three years later, public displays of activism came to Denver.

  No matter the social or political climate, the persistent themes that have defined PrideFest over its many decades in Denver are unity, visibility, and—now more than ever—inclusivity. PrideFest is a time when LGBTQ+ Coloradans can feel truly and openly accepted for their fabulous selves.

  HAPPY PRIDE!

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  Italian Coloradans

  Shaped by the country they left behind, Italian immigrants made their way to Colorado in the late 1850s, spurred by the mining boom.

  Upon arrival, they faced many challenges, often living in segregated communities. Despite their struggles, Italian immigrants persevered and prospered, making an impact on the communities they were becoming a part of.

  Today Colorado’s Italian American community is experiencing a revival, with members committed to preserving their history. Below are personal histories and rare photographs collected in collaboration with this community.

  Check out our recently re-published book Italy in Colorado for more!

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  Hispano Coloradans

  No matter where you live or travel in Colorado, the Hispano influence is powerfully felt. So many people have made their mark on Colorado’s rich history, and our state’s Hispano residents have been here longer than many.

  Join us in celebrating their stories — stories of discovery, patience, persistence and resilience.

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  Hecho en Colorado

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