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July 14, 2010NEH SeminarModupe Labode
1. The West—a wide and varied place—has always been multiracial.
2. Race is a historical construct; it is not a biological reality.
3. Racism is a tricky critter—it hides, masquerades, and appears where you least expect it.
4. The past does not look like the present.
This and other images from photoswest.org, Denver Public Library
Professor of American History at University of Washington
Incoming president of the Western History Association
Creator of website: blackpast.org
Sanborn Maps Census Data Newspapers Photographs City Directories
Colorado Population: Total: 589,000 White: 529,049 Negro: 8,570 “Indians”: 1,337 Chinese: 599 Japanese: 48
Image: Gilpin School, Denver
Table 20: Chinese in Denver 1880: 612 1890: 1,398 1900: 599
Peak of Chinese population in the 1880s
Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Chinese American home, Denver, ca. 1914
Table 21: Census—Japanese in Colorado 1880? 1890: 9 1900: 48
Baseball Team: Denver, 1910-1920
One of the earliest “streetcar suburbs” in Denver.
Gradually became less well-heeled and more diverse throughout the nineteenth century
Architecture reveals its pastThe majority of Denver’s African
Americans lived in Five Points, but was not wholly African American
Born in Louisiana in 1867Moved to St. Louis with her young
daughter, Lelia.Worked as a washerwoman, and
began selling Annie Pope-Turnbo’s hair care product.
Moved to Denver in 1905.
Settled with family “Politics of
Respectability” Adopted the name
Madam C.J. Walker
Image from Library of Congress
Left Denver in 1906
In 1907 she made $3,653, about 3 times more than she made in 1906
Settled in Indianapolis in 1910
Died in 1919
Born in the 1840s Father, Ochinee, was
a Cheyenne sub-chief.
Married John Prowers, a trader from Missouri
Called “Amy” Individuals who
identify as white and Cheyenne include her in their family tree
The Homma Children, interned in Colorado. From the Denver Post, July 4, 2009Homma Children
Official name: Granada
Name chosen to honor or acknowledge Amache Prowers
Parents were born into slavery. Henry McDaniel, her father, served in the Union Army.
Family left Tennessee in 1879—Exodusters
Hattie born in Kansas, the youngest child.
Family moved to Denver in 1890.
Father worked as laborer; mother as laundress, cook, maid
Attended 24th Street School (pictured here) and East High School
Dreams of show business Married Howard Hickman
when she was 17 Finally left Denver in
1925, when she was in her 30s.
Made it to Hollywood in the early 1930s.
Image from Ball State University
D = Dwelling S=Store Street numbers Stables, sheds,
outbuildings Stories in structure Alleys, water
hydrants, road surfaces, etc.
1340-1344 Pennsylvania Avenue—Vol. 3, 1904, Sheet #342
30th & Downing, Vol. 3, Sheet #216
Other people to consider, for the case of Denver:
Paul Laurence Dunbar, who spent time in Denver around 1900, in search for a cure for TB
Emily French, whose diary describes working class life in Denver, 1890.
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