We Are Colorado

Next week we observe the formal end of slavery in the United States on Juneteenth. Although President Lincoln gave his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865 that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

Colorado was just coming into its own at this time, and suffrage for African Americans was a central issue on the path to statehood, leading President Andrew Johnson to reject a bill in 1867.

The Chicano/a movement—el Movimiento—emerged in the late 1960s alongside other civil rights movements, such as Black Power and the American Indian Movement. Although these movements represented different racial and cultural groups in the United States, they shared the overarching goals of the empowerment of, and civil rights for, underrepresented and oppressed peoples.

Maybe you’ve heard about noted Chicano leaders like Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales and César Chávez—and rightfully so. They were critical to the development of el Movimiento. Lesser known are the Chicana women who helped to make that movement possible.

Today, Colorado is home to some 24,000 Vietnamese American residents, many of them living in Denver’s metropolitan area. Although most Denverites are well aware of the presence of this community, many know little about the history behind the city’s ethnic Vietnamese population.

When Sài Gòn fell to the North Vietnamese in the spring of 1975, there was a mass exodus of refugees from the South. Between 1975 and 1992, over two million Vietnamese fled the country and nearly a million arrived in the United States. By 1990, Colorado was home to about 5,800 Vietnamese refugees.

Despite the myriad contributions that Vietnamese refugees have made to the city, their history in Denver remains largely unknown to the general public. My interview with Nga Vuong-Sandoval highlights this history.

Today, Denver’s LoDo is home to a number of thriving businesses, apartment complexes, restaurants, and art galleries. This area was once home to Denver’s Chinatown. Near modern-day Coors Field, Chinatown—also known as Hop Alley—formed along Wazee Street. It became the residential and business center of Chinese migrants living in the city in the 1870s. Despite this, there remains no trace of Denver’s Chinatown, with the exception of a commemorative plaque on the corner of Twentieth and Blake streets.

Virginia Castro is known to many as the widow of late Chicano leader and state representative Richard Castro, but, like him, she has a story of her own. She recently shared her oral history with us—you can listen to it here. Read on for a brief summary of her life in Colorado.

Prior to gaining statehood in 1876, southern Colorado was home to a number of important trading outposts. These forts played a crucial role in the development of the Southwest before the annexation of the region by the United States. Throughout the early nineteenth century, the Southwest was a meeting ground of diverse nations and cultures, including a variety of American Indian tribes, as well as Spanish and French traders.

While many people associate this era of the American West with rugged mountain men, women were also critical to the development of the region. In many cases, women took on a diplomatic role, ensuring peaceful and prosperous trading relationships between Europeans and Indian tribes.

A neighborhood is more than just a location or a group of houses. It is a collection of people, each with their own unique experiences and recollections, who together form something greater. The collective memory of a community can be a powerful thing and it can tell important stories. Family, work, school, sports, church, and community are all recorded together in written, visual, and oral form. That is why El Pueblo History Museum is proud to host a variety of memory projects.