Explore Black History & Heritage Colorado has a rich and diverse past that many might find surprising. Give your inner history buff a real treat as you glean fascinating knowledge from museums, heritage sites and walking tours. 3 DAYS RECOMMENDED; 241 MILES BLACK AMERICAN WEST MUSEUM & HERITAGE CENTER Denver Stops: Pueblo Pop into the El Pueblo History Museum to explore the Borderlands of Southern Colorado exhibit. You’ll learn about Jim Beckwourth, an explorer, fur trapper and mountain man who helped found the town of Pueblo. Colorado Springs Snap a pic with the downtown statue of local legend Fannie Mae Duncan — a trailblazer who ran the city’s first integrated jazz club in the 1950s–1960s. Then make your way to the cozy African American Museum in the Westside Community Center where you can see intimate pieces of Colorado Springs’ past, like the uniform of Tuskegee Airman James Randall. At the Any Place North & West exhibit at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum , you can traverse history through the stories of locals, such as Charles Banks, an NAACP member and activist who worked to eliminate segregation. THE HATTIE MCDANIEL HOME DEARFIELD Denver Put on your walking shoes for a self-guided tour of the Five Points Historic Cultural District . Markers provide informational tidbits and call out locations like the station that housed Denver’s first all-Black firefighting company and popular nightclubs. The acclaimed Five Points Jazz Festival each May is a must, as is a visit to the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center — peruse the home office of Denver’s first Black woman doctor and learn about her life, Black cowboys and so much more. 70 COLORADO SPRINGS PIONEERS MUSEUM FOM TOP: VISIT DENVER; EVAN SEMON PHOTOGRAPHY. BLACK AMERICAN WEST MUSEUM & HERITAGE CENTER EL PUEBLO HISTORY MUSEUM Dearfield Just 35 minutes southeast of Greeley sits the ghost town of Dearfield. Here you’ll find a handful of clapboard structures — held together by secrets and memories — dotting the golden prairie. The once-thriving, majority-Black settlement was filled with homesteaders who created a sustainable agricultural community … and even dabbled in Prohibition-era bootlegging. SEE MORE AT COLORADO.COM/ BLACKHISTORY FIVE POINTS JAZZ FESTIVAL Fort Collins Stroll the streets of Fort Collins on a self-guided walking tour through the town’s history. Points of interest include the homes of Academy Award-winner Hattie McDaniel, suffragette Edith Goodall and the Birdsalls, who hosted Black travelers and musicians that weren’t welcome in local hotels. COLORADO . COM 77
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2022: Page 77
