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Trunks

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 African American
Grandmother Trunk
Table of Contents
3 Teacher Information

6 Background Information

13 Artifacts and Materials

17 Story

21 Activities

33 Biographies

46 Food and Culture

49 Sources and Additional Resources

If you are interested in other programs offered by History Colorado please call
303-866-3682, or visit our website www.coloradohistory.org.
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Objectives
Through the use of the trunk, students learn about objects of the past and are exposed to
the customs and values of Colorado cultures at the turn of the twentieth century. Students
will use the trunk to explore the concepts of industrialization, immigration and ethnicity,
western settlement, and culture.

The Grandmother Trunks contain items that would have been collected by an average
American. They are not trunks of famous or extremely wealthy individuals and therefore
they represent everyday life. Students will make connections between the past and the
present through the stories and artifacts. Students will also use the trunk to gain insight
about and appreciation for the many cultures that make up Colorado.

Standards
3rd Grade Social Studies:
History - 1.b., 1.c., 2.b., 2.c., 2.d.
Civics - 1.a., 1.b.
4th Grade Social Studies:
History - 1.a., 1.c., 1.d., 2.b., 2.d.
Economics - 1.b.
Civics - 1.c.

21st Century Skills

3rd Grade Social Studies:

How have different groups of people both lived together and interacted with each other in
the past?
How has the region changed and yet remained the same over time?

4th Grade Social Studies:

How have past events influenced present-day Colorado and the Rocky Mountain
region?
Why is it important to the sequence of events and people in Colorado history?
To what extent have unity and diversity shaped Colorado?

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Time Frame for Activities
These activities are intended to go in order, one each day. It may be best that the class
does not have any information on the trunk prior to these activities. Each activity
should be done in one 45-minute period, additional time may be required for follow up
activities or discussions.

Day 1 - Mystery Objects: One 45-minute period

Day 2 - Culture Clues: One 45-minute period
Day 3 - Story of the Trunk: One 45-minute period
Day 4 - Who Are You: One 45-minute period
Day 5 - In My Trunk: One 45-minute period

NOTE: Should you only have one or two class periods to devote to this trunk we suggest that
you use Day 1 or Day 2 followed by Day 3 or Day 4. While the activities in this trunk are in-
tended to go together, they can also be taught independently.

Enrichment Activities
After discussing the record found in the trunk you may consider playing some jazz music
that was commonly played in the famous jazz clubs in Denver’s Five Points. We recom-
mend playing music from Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker, all of whom
preformed in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver. Try playing these artists on Pandora
or some other free internet radio while your students work on other activities.

Pandora can be used by following this link: www.pandora.com.

You may also play a clip from Rocky Mountain PBS’s “Jazz in Five Points” with this link,
http://www.rmpbs.org/panorama/?entry=31.

PBS Kids also offers an interactive site about jazz which includes a jazz timeline, biogra-
phies of jazz greats and a chance for students to create their own jazz band and
experience jazz music. Use this link to explore, http://pbskids.org/jazz/index.html.

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U.S. History Timeline
Early Days and Slavery 1619 – 1866
1619: A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of James-
town, Virginia.
1739: One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina. About 20
whites and more than twice as many black slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee
to Florida.
1775: George Washington changes a previous policy and allows free blacks to enlist in the
Continental Army. Approximately 5,000 do so. The British governor of Virginia promises
freedom to slaves who enlist with the British.
1776: A passage condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of
Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies.
1787: The U.S. Constitution is ratified. It provides for the continuation of the slave trade for
another 20 years and requires states to aid slaveholders in the recovery of fugitive slaves.
It also stipulates that a slave counts as three-fifths of a man for purposes of determining
representation in the House of Representatives.
1793: Congress passes the first Fugitive Slave Act, which makes it a crime to harbor an
escaped slave.
1793: Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which makes cotton cultivation on a huge scale
possible in the South and thus greatly increases the need for slaves, whose numbers sky-
rocket.
1800: Gabriel Prosser tries to organize the first large-scale slave revolt in the U.S.,
gathering more than 1,000 armed slaves in Virginia. The revolt fails, and Prosser and more
than 35 slaves are executed.
1807: Congress bans the importation of slaves into the U.S. The law will be largely ignored
in the South.
1831 - 1861: Approximately 75,000 slaves escape to the North and freedom using the
Underground Railroad, a system in which free African American and white “conductors,”
abolitionists, and sympathizers guide, help, and shelter the escapees.
1831: Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison starts to publish The Liberator, a fiercely anti-
slavery newspaper, in Boston.
1831: Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion in Virginia. Fifty-seven whites are killed, but
Turner is eventually captured and executed.
1845: Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself, which is an international bestseller.
1849: Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery. She returns to the South and becomes one of
the main “conductors” on the Underground Railroad, helping more than 300 slaves escape.
1850: Congress passes another Fugitive Slave Act, which mandates government support
for the capture of escaped slaves, and spurs widespread protest in the North.
1851: Freedwoman Sojourner Truth, a compelling speaker for abolitionism, gives her
famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in Akron, Ohio.

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1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which is
an immediate bestseller and helps turn public opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act and
slavery itself.
1857: In the Dred Scott Case, the Supreme Court decides that African Americans are not
citizens of the U.S., and that Congress has no power to restrict slavery in any federal
territory. This meant that a slave who made it to a free state would still be considered a
slave.
1861: The Civil War begins when the Confederates attack Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South
Carolina. The war, fought over the issue of slavery, will rage for another four years. The
Union’s victory will mean the end of slavery in the U.S.
1863: President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation legally frees slaves in the
Confederacy.
1863: Eight African American infantry regiments fight on the Union side in the Battle of
Port Hudson, attacking heroically despite heavy losses to withering Confederate fire.
1865: Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, and establishes the
Freedmen’s Bureau to assist former slaves. This is the beginning of the Reconstruction era.
1866: All-white legislatures in the former Confederate states pass the so-called “Black
Codes,” sharply curtailing African Americans’ freedom and virtually re-enslaving them.

Building Democracy 1866 - 1948

1866: Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which confers citizenship on African Americans
and grants them equal rights with whites.
1866: The white supremacist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan is founded in
Tennessee.
1867: Five all-black colleges are founded: Howard University, Morgan State College,
Talladega College, St. Augustine’s College, and Johnson C. Smith College. There will be more
than 100 predominantly black colleges by the middle of the next century.
1881: Tennessee passes the first of the Jim Crow segregation laws, segregating state rail-
roads. Other Southern states pass similar laws over the next 15 years.
1890: Mississippi enacts a poll tax, which most African Americans cannot afford to pay, to
try to keep blacks from voting.
1892: African American journalist Ida B. Wells begins a crusade to investigate the
lynchings of African Americans after three of her friends are lynched in Tennessee.
1895: African American intellectual spokesman Booker T. Washington gives his
controversial Atlanta Compromise speech at the Cotton Exposition in Georgia, saying that
African Americans should focus on economic advancement rather than political change.
1896: In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated, or “separate but
equal,” public facilities for whites and black African Americans are legal. The ruling stands
until 1954.
1903: Sarah Breedlove MacWilliams, better known as Madam C. J. Walker, starts an African
American hair-care business in Denver and eventually becomes America’s first self-made
woman millionaire.
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1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is
founded by a group of African American and white activists, including W. E. B. Du Bois. Du
Bois is the only one of the seven African American activists to serve on the NAACP board.
1912: W. C. Handy, the so-called “Father of the Blues,” publishes his song “Memphis Blues,”
which becomes a huge hit.
1926: Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong forms his Hot Five band. He will be-
come a jazz legend and a cultural icon.
1926: Langston Hughes publishes The Weary Blues, his first book of poetry. A pivotal force
in the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes will go on to become one of the 20th century’s most
recognized American writers.
1927: Duke Ellington’s jazz group The Washingtonians begins a five-year engagement at
The Cotton Club in Harlem. Their performances, broadcast on radio, will lay the ground-
work for Ellington’s rise to national prominence.
1936: Track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in the Berlin Olympics,
thwarting Adolf Hitler’s plan to use the games to demonstrate “Aryan supremacy.”
1939: Hattie McDaniel, from Denver, becomes the first African American actor to win an
Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind.
1947: Baseball great Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to break the
color barrier and be allowed to play in the major leagues.
1948: President Truman issues an executive order that desegregates the military.

Civil Rights Era 1954 - 1968

1954: In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court rules unani-
mously against school segregation, overturning its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white
person, triggering a successful, year-long African American boycott of the bus system.
1956: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregation of Montgomery, Alabamma, buses
is unconstitutional.
1957: The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., helps found the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference to work for full equality for African Americans.
1957: For the first time since Reconstruction, the federal government uses the military to
uphold African Americans’ civil rights, as soldiers escort nine African American students
to desegregate a school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daisy Bates, an NAACP leader, advised and
assisted the students and eventually had a state holiday dedicated to her.
1959: Great jazz trumpeter Miles Davis records Kind of Blue, often considered his
masterpiece. The saxophonist on the album is another jazz giant, John Coltrane.
1962: African American radical Malcolm X becomes national minister of the Nation of
Islam. He rejects the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement and integration, and becomes a
champion of African American separatism and black pride. At one point he states that
equal rights should be secured “by any means necessary,” a position he later revises.
1963: More than 200,000 people march on Washington, D.C., in the largest civil rights
demonstration ever; Martin Luther King, Jr., gives his “I have a dream” speech.
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1963: Martin Luther King, Jr., writes his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” his famous state-
ment about the civil rights movement.
1964: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), CORE and the NAACP and
other civil rights groups organize a massive African American voter registration drive in
Mississippi known as Freedom Summer. Three CORE civil rights workers are murdered. In
the five years following Freedom Summer, black voter registration in Mississippi will rise
from a mere 7 percent to 67 percent.
1964: President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which gives the federal govern-
ment far-reaching powers to prosecute discrimination in employment, voting, and
education.
1964: Martin Luther King, Jr., is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1964: Cassius Clay wins the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Shortly thereafter,
he announces he has joined the Nation of Islam and taken the name Muhammad Ali.
1965: One year after splitting from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X is assassinated in New
York by gunmen affiliated with the NOI.
1965: King organizes a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for African
American voting rights. A shocked nation watches on television as police club and tear-gas
protesters.
1966: The holiday of Kwanzaa, based on African harvest festivals, is created in the U.S. by
an activist scholar, Maulana Ron Karenga.
1967: Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American justice on the Supreme
Court.
1963: Aretha Franklin records a series of hit singles, including her best-known song,
“Respect.” She will become known as the “Queen of Soul.”
1968: Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His murder sparks a
week of rioting across the country.
1968: Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman to be elected to
Congress.

Modern Times 1972 - Present

1972: The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is passed, prohibiting job discrimination on
the basis of, among other things, race, and laying the groundwork for affirmative action.
1974: Hank Aaron becomes the all-time leading home run hitter. Another African Ameri-
can baseball great, outfielder Reggie Jackson, sets records in several World Series in the
70s.
1982: Singer Michael Jackson’s album Thriller becomes one of the best-selling albums of
all time.
1983: Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American Miss America.
1984: The Cosby Show, starring African American comedian Bill Cosby, premieres on
television. It will become one of the most popular sit-coms in history. It also departs from
what had been the usual negative stereotyping of African Americans on TV by showing an
upper-middle-class, professional, well-educated family.
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1986: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is made into a national holiday.
1987: Earvin “Magic” Johnson is named the National Basketball Association’s Most
Valuable Player.
1989: General Colin L. Powell is the first African American to be named chair of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military.
1989: Oprah Winfrey, the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated
(and wildly popular) talk show, founds Harpo Productions to produce her own movies and
TV shows. In 2000, Forbes magazine will estimate Winfrey’s earnings at $150 million.
1989: David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City, and
Douglas Wilder becomes the first African American state governor since Reconstruction
by being elected in Virginia.
1990: The U.S. Census reveals an increase in the African American population to 12
percent of the total U.S. population, with over 50 percent of all African Americans still
residing in southern states.
1991: The Civil Rights Act of 1991 makes it easier for employees to sue their employers for
job discrimination.
1993: Mae Jemison becomes the first African American woman in space as part of the crew
of the space shuttle Endeavour.
1993: Author Toni Morrison is the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature.
1997: Basketball star Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls win their fifth NBA
championship.
2000: Venus Williams wins the singles title at Wimbledon, becoming the first African
American woman to do so since Althea Gibson in 1958.
2001: General Colin L. Powell is appointed Secretary of State by President George W. Bush.
2002: Halle Berry becomes the first African American woman to win an Oscar for Best
Actress, for her performance in Monster’s Ball.
2002: The Slavery Reparations Coordinating Committee, led by prominent African
American lawyers and activists, announces plans to sue companies that profited from
slavery.
2005: Condoleezza Rice serves as the 66th United States Secretary of State. Rice was the
first African-American woman secretary of state, as well as the second African American
(after Colin Powell), and the second woman (after Madeleine Albright).
2008: The United State’s first black President, Barrak Obama, is elected.

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Colorado History Timeline
1494: The first Africans arrived in Hispaniola with Christopher Columbus, they are free
persons.
1511: The first enslaved Africans arrive in Hispaniola.
1625: The first enslaved Africans arrive in the Dutch Colony, which is now New York City.
They quickly become the city’s labor force, clearing timber, cutting lumber, cultivating
crops and constructing roads and buildings.
1825: James Beckwourth, the most famous African American trapper and fur trader, enters
the Rocky Mountains.
1875: Denver businessman Barney Ford builds the Inter-Ocean Hotel, which for a period
was the largest hotel in the city of Denver.
1881: John T. Gunnell becomes the first African American to sit in the Colorado Legislature.
1890: The African American community of Five Points in east Denver emerges.
1907: Madame C. J. Walker of Denver develops and markets her hair straightening method
and creates one of the most successful cosmetic firms in the nation.
1910: The colony of Dearfield, Colorado, is established by Toussaint Jackson and his wife
Minerva, as an exclusive African American community.
1939 - 1945:Over 2.5 million African American men register for the draft, while black
women volunteered in large numbers in the WWII war effort.
1943: The newly formed Denver chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality organizes one
of the West’s first successful protest demonstrations when it pickets a Denver movie
theater that segregates black and white patrons.
1960s: Black Americans participated in civil rights movements and feminist movements
that worked to provide equality to black men and women.
1974: George Brown is elected Lietenant Governer of Colorado; he is the first African
American to hold the position in the 20th century.
1975: General Daniel Chappie James of the Air Force becomes the first African American
four-star general.
1991: The first African American mayor of Denver, Wellington Webb, is elected.

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Map of Colorado
Map of Denver, Colorado
Map of Five Points in Denver, Colorado
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Throughout the years, this trunk has passed through many hands. The owner of this trunk
has a story; it is a common story as the owner was a common African American woman.
This trunk tells her story from the time she was born to the time of her death. Her story
and the keepsakes she stored in this trunk hold the power to educate all of us about the
importance of heritage, identity, and cultural diversity.

Hi, my name is Ruth Harris. I was born in Denver, Colorado in 1914. Now I know, that’s a
long, long time ago. I was delivered by Dr. Justina Ford, oh she was so special. She was a
doctor, a lady doctor who delivered all the brown and black babies, in Denver at that time.
Now back then, we was called brown and black babies, and more than likely we was referred
to as colored babies. Cuz that’s what we were, we were colored babies. Now you are called
African American babies, and brown babies are known as Latino babies. But back when I was
coming up, we was definitely colored babies.

My mother and my father were from Mississippi, my father worked as a Pullman Porter on
the railroad, and it was that railroad that brought my parents first to Kansas City and then to
Denver, Colorado.

We lived in the historic Five Points neighborhood. That’s what they call it now, the HISTORIC
Five Points neighborhood. Mother worked at home, and she cooked and made all kind of
clothes. And even sometimes, when money was tight mother would work in the white folks
homes as a cook, cuz if mother couldn’t do anything, boy, could she cook a good meal! Mother
also had an old trunk in the back bedroom, and it was filled with all kinds of special things
from her mother and her grandmother.

So I decided to begin to collect things in a trunk of my own, to have for my children. Now in
her trunk, mother had my baby shoes, oh aren’t they cute! Now she told me, I could have them
one day to show my own babies. Now I’m gonna tell you, when they saw these shoes they
probably laughed just as hard as you are. In my trunk I had my doll, Lucy. I played with her
every day, and you know, this is all that’s left of her now. All I have left is one shoe and one
pair of pantaloons but Lucy used to be decked to the nines. I had really, probably six or seven
outfits I could put her on.

My father worked as a janitor and a handy man, picking up odd jobs where ever he could
find. Oh, he was real good with his hands. So mother cooked, but daddy made the best home-
made ice cream. Oh, I can remember scooping up big scoops with this here spoon, this spoon
fit exactly in my mouth, just like I wanted it to eat the best ice cream made in all of Denver,
Colorado.

There was three children in our family, there was my older brother who we just called Bubba,
there was my younger brother who we called Scooty Boot and then there was me, Ruth. And
I was the darling of the family, there was momma and there was papa. And we all had fun,
we all went to school and church, and we enjoyed many activities together at the YMCA and
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the YWCA. I had many cousins, and they would join us too. We would have parties and we
celebrated all kinds of events like Christmas and New Years. And we traded post cards and
things like that. We were always trying to document our lives with pictures. And as you turn
through the photo album, you can see, we were a big family and we all loved one another. We
would have birthdays, with cake from the baker and all the children from the neighborhood
would come and play. And then me and my brothers, we would go to the YMCA and swim and
play on the billiard tables after school and we would just have fun! My mother wanted us to
play, all the time, she wanted us to be children.

My mother even signed me up to learn to dance at the YMCA. I had to wear special shoes and
I had to do special steps and it wasn’t to go do anything special, it was just to learn and to
have fun when I went to the socials. I was one of the better dancers at the socials, because my
dance card was always filled up.

I went to East High School in Denver, that’s were I met and fell in love with Sam. Sam would
come courting me, with my daddy’s permission of course! And during that time, most of the
colored folks, we were confined to the Five Points. That’s where we had dancing and jazz and
Sam and I, we danced the night away! We was in jazz clubs like the Rainbow Room, the Ros-
sonian and Lil’s and saw some of the most famous jazz musicians and the world perform, like
Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker.

On Saturdays we would go to the movies, and there were two movies for a nickel. And if you
can believe this they would put bacon grease on the popcorn at the Roxy Theater, now I know
you think that’s doesn’t taste good, but yum, it was just as good as butter is today, that bacon
grease just gave it an extra wow.

Sundays, we would always go to Zion Church, and you had to have your bible when you went
cuz the preacher always had you memorizing things. Now my grandmother, she made us
memorize a verse that we would have to say every Sunday. And as we would go out the door
she would say, ‘Ruth, do you know your verse today?’ and I would go, ‘Yes, I know my verse.’
She would say, ‘It better be a good one, and it better not be ‘Jesus wept’ haha, cuz every Sun-
day I wanted to say ‘Jesus wept’ as my verse, cuz not only was it short but it was a nice verse.
But you had to run in to the problem of everybody else in Sunday School saying ‘Jesus wept’
as their verse too, but it was sure my favorite verse. I always loved Sundays, I always loved
Zion Church, and I was always carrying my own Bible.

In 1929, it was the Great Depression. Hardly no food, hardly no money. But it didn’t matter,
as long as we had love, we made it. So even though it was a sad time, and there no money
for many things and people were scrambling to eat and to work, I still married Sam. And my
mother, my mother gave me a purse as a wedding gift. I would see her back there crocheting
and when I would come in sometimes she would put what she was working on a way. I would
go, “What are you working on Mother?” and she would say “It’s my business and not yours, go
away little girl.” And then to see this beautiful purse that my mother gave me on my wedding
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day, it was the most precious thing and a thing I held dear all my life. And I hope to pass it on
to one of mine, if that happens, pretty soon I hope!

Me and Sam, after we got married, we lived in a small apartment. And pretty soon, I was
pregnant and I had a new baby. I worked as a secretary and Sam worked in his father ‘s
business, a local grocery store on Welton Street. My brothers and I remained close through
out our lives, helping and supporting one another in the hardest of times. Growing up, Mother
always said not to gossip, but if you ever wanted to know something, you would go to
Charlene’s House of Beauty. Because that’s were all the gossip happened, and later on my
mother was so enthralled with the beauty business that she became a beautician and worked
at Miss Charlene’s House of Beauty. Charlene was known through out the entire neighbor-
hood as Miss Charlene, Miss Charlene Jordan at the House of Beauty.

You know, my older brother had just returned from World War Two and wanted to become
a police man, it was a dream all the time when he was little, ‘I’m gonna be a policeman, I’m
gonna be a policeman.’ But he could never get on the police force here in Denver, Colorado.
And so he worked as a handy man with my father, cuz he was good with his hands too!

Later on, we all joined the Denver Chapter of the Congress On Racial Equality, or CORE. CORE
had sit-ins, they also helped integrate Denver Dry Goods. And when we would go, we would
wear our best shoes when we would go to protest. We had to look good.

This was a quilt, it was given to me by my mother after the birth of my first child. This quilt,
it tells stories of my childhood, like the dress I wore on the first day of school, oh and this is a
piece here of the one I wore on my first date with Sam. This is a piece here of when my Mother
became ill and this was the quilt that covered her body.

The quilts tell all kinds of stories, and this is a quilt that tells the stories of my life. Now I am
going to leave my things, my stories in a trunk for my grandbabies to have. And maybe you
should think about having one too. The trunk of our lives, it tells all kinds of stories…

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These activities are intended to go in order, one each day. It may be best that the class
does not have any information on the trunk prior to these activities. Each activity
should be done in one 45-minute period, additional time may be required for follow-
up activities or discussions.

Day 1 - Mystery Objects

Objective:
Students look at and analyze the artifacts from the trunk. Students will make hypotheses
on what each artifact is and what it might have been used for.
Procedure:
1. Divide students into groups of 4 or 5 and pass out (at least) 2 artifacts from the trunk to
each group.
2. Ask the students to look at each artifact and consider several things using the provided
Mystery Objects Worksheet.
• What does this artifact look like?
• What is it made of?
• What was it used for?
• Is there something that we use today that it is similar?
• Why is this artifact important?
• Who is the artifact important to?
• Why would it have been kept in the trunk?
3. Students should consider what they have learned about this particular culture in Denver
from these artifacts.
4. As a class, discuss what each artifact is and what it may have been used for. Ask students
why they believe each artifact was saved in the trunk and not discarded.
5. Have students create a short story about one of the artifacts, the story should include
details about what the artifact is as well as why it was saved and who it was important to.

Follow Up:
Ask students to look for objects in their own homes that resemble the objects they studied
in class.

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Name:________________________________________________________________

Mystery Object Worksheet

What are these artifacts? What could they have been used for? Why would someone keep
them? Let’s find out!

Artifact 1:

What does this artifact look like? _________________________________________________________________

What is it made of? _________________________________________________________________________________

What does this artifact feel like?___________________________________________________________________

What may it have been used for?__________________________________________________________________

Is something similar used today? _________________________________________________________________

Why is this artifact important? ____________________________________________________________________

Who would this artifact be important to?_________________________________________________________

Why would this artifact have been kept in this trunk?___________________________________________

How old do you think this artifact might be? _____________________________________________________

Use the space below to draw the artifact.

Name:________________________________________________________________

Mystery Object Worksheet (Pg. 2)

What are these artifacts? What could they have been used for? Why would someone keep
them? Let’s find out!

Artifact 2:

What does this artifact look like? _________________________________________________________________

What is it made of? _________________________________________________________________________________

What does this artifact feel like?___________________________________________________________________

What may it have been used for?__________________________________________________________________

Is something similar used today? _________________________________________________________________

Why is this artifact important? ____________________________________________________________________

Who would this artifact be important to?_________________________________________________________

Why would this artifact have been kept in this trunk?___________________________________________

How old do you think this artifact might be? _____________________________________________________

Use the space below to draw the artifact.

These activities are intended to go in order, one each day. It may be best that the class
does not have any information on the trunk prior to these activities. Each activity
should be done in one 45-minute period, additional time may be required for follow-
up activities or discussions.

Day 2 - Culture Clues

Objectives:
Students will explore some important components of culture. They will organize their
thinking as well as the provided artifacts into categories and develop an understanding
and respect for the values of another culture.
Procedure:
1. Use the provided Cluture Clues Worksheet as an example and write these components
(language, tools, institutions and arts) on the board in columns so that you will be able
to list the artifacts under each one. Discuss as a class what each component is and why it
helps to make up a culture. Also discuss what other components (ie. food, dress, music)
make up a culture and you may consider using one or two of those for the activity as well.
2. Display all the artifacts from the Grandmother Trunk and go over each one again briefly
using what the students learned and discussed from the previous activities.
3. One at a time, select an artifact and ask the class to categorize it in the components you
have decided to use. Allow students to discuss why each artifact belongs in a certain
category and not another. Students may ‘argue’ that one artifact belongs to a different
category than another student put it in.
4. By the end of the activity each artifact should be listed under at least one category.
Consider that some artifacts may fall under more than one category and discuss as a class
why this might be.

Follow Up:
As a class discuss how culture has changed since the 1900s and how it continues to evolve.
Technology is a good example of how a culture can change. Allow students to think about
important components in their own culture and see if they fit into the categories. Ask
students to list an additional 10 to 20 items from the classroom and put them into the
categories as well.

25
Name:________________________________________________________________

Culture Clues Worksheet

Look at each artifact and categorize it in these components of culture. See if you can fit each artifact
into a category. Some artifacts might belong in more that one category.

language tools institutions arts _______ _______

These activities are intended to go in order, one each day. It may be best that the class
does not have any information on the trunk prior to these activities. Each activity
should be done in one 45-minute period, additional time may be required for follow-
up activities or discussions.

Day 3 - Who Are You?

Objectives:
Using the provided biographies, students will consider what each of these people might
have kept in a trunk. Students will form a hypothesis of what is important to different
people and develop understanding and respect for other cultures.
Procedure:
1. Begin by discussing what a biography is. Talk about important things that might be part
of a biography, like where a person was born, who they married and if they had
children. Allow students to come up with several things they think are important to be
included in a biography.
2. Divide students into 5 groups and give each group a copy of one of the biographies.
Each group should read a different biography.
3. Each student should fill out the Who Are You Worksheet as they read and learn about the
person featured in their biography.
4. Students will think about this person and what was important in his or her life. Have
students think about the things that this person might have kept in a trunk of their own.
Students should keep in mind the time period in which this person was alive and where
they came from. This information may change what they would have put in a trunk.
5. Students should now fill out the An Old Trunk Worksheet and describe what the stu-
dents believe might be in this person’s trunk. Students should look for clues about what
might have been important to each person.

Follow Up:
Using the provided timeline and timeline cards, ask students to work together to deter-
mine where on the timeline the 20 famous African Americans belong. Discuss the achieve-
ments of this person and which era of African American history they lived in. Also, ask the
students to come up with something that each one of these people might have kept in a
trunk.

27
Name:________________________________________________________________

Who Are You? Worksheet

Read the biography and think about the life of the person you are reading about.

Name of person:_____________________________________________________________________________________

Is this person a man or a woman?_________________________________________________________________

When were they born?__________________________________________

When did they die?______________________________________________

Where is this person from?_________________________________________________________________________

Where did they live in Colorado?___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did they do for work?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did they have a family?_____________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Was this person rich or poor?______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

List their major achievements:____________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

What surprised you about this person?____________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name:________________________________________________________________

An Old Trunk Worksheet

Using the biography, come up with 5 things that this person might have kept in a trunk for
younger generations to find.

Item 1:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why they would have kept this: ___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 2:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why they would have kept this: ___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 3:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why they would have kept this: ___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 4:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why they would have kept this: ___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 5:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why they would have kept this: ___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
These activities are intended to go in order, one each day. It may be best that the class
does not have any information on the trunk prior to these activities. Each activity
should be done in one 45-minute period, additional time may be required for follow-
up activities or discussions.

Day 4 - Story of the Trunk

Objectives:
Students will explore the artifacts in the trunk and consider several important factors in
the ‘story’ of the trunk.
Procedure:
Before playing the audio recording of the Story of the Trunk (provided on the CD with slide
show) to the class, give students a chance to look at the artifacts and ask questions about
the trunk and who might have made it. Allow students to go through the trunk again look-
ing closely at each artifact and considering the previous activities. Discuss the relationship
between biographies and stories and ask students to consider how these artifacts can tell a
story.
2. Students will now create a story of the trunk. Students should consider:
• the time period the trunk was made
• the gender of the person who compiled the trunk
• the economic class of the person and, or family
• other important factors of this culture
3. Students will use creative writing skills to write a story of the trunk. Each story should
include who the owner of the trunk is, when they were born, where they lived, and what
they did. Ask students to make the trunk come to life by describing the things this person
might have done for fun, the food they might have eaten and their family.
4. Finish this activity by playing the provided audio CD for the Story of the Trunk. Did some
of the students have similar stories?

Follow Up:
Students should have the opportunity to share their story with the class.
Stories can be typed and compiled into a Grandmother Trunk book for the classroom.
History Colorado would also love to receive a copy of your classroom’s Grandmother
Trunk book. Some selections may even be included in future Grandmother Trunks!

30
These activities are intended to go in order, one each day. It may be best that the class
does not have any information on the trunk prior to these activities. Each activity
should be done in one 45-minute period, additional time may be required for follow-
up activities or discussions.

Day 5 - In My Trunk
Objective: Students will reflect on what they have learned about this Grandmother Trunk
and African American culture in Denver. Students will think about the things they value
and think are important from their own lives and cultures.
Procedure:
1. Ask students to consider the artifacts in the Grandmother Trunk and think about why
they were in the trunk. Discuss the similarities between a trunk and a time capsule.
2. Ask students to think about their own lives and the culture they live in today. They
should consider all the things that are important to them and what they would put in a
trunk today. Students should consider the following:
• what activities and games they enjoy
• who the important people in their lives are
• what is special to them, ie: religion, sports, travel...
• what types of things they do every day
3. Ask the students to complete the provided In My Trunk Worksheet and share with the
class all the things that they chose for their trunk.

Follow Up:
If time and materials are available, students can use an old shoe box and fill it with some
small objects or pictures of the things that they have decided to include in their trunk.

31
Name:________________________________________________________________

In My Trunk Worksheet

What would you put in your trunk? What is important to you and your culture? What
would you like for someone to learn about your life 100 years from now?

Item 1:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why I want this in my trunk: ______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 2:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why I want this in my trunk: ______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 3:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why I want this in my trunk: ______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 4:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why I want this in my trunk: ______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Item 5:________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why I want this in my trunk: ______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Grandmother
Trunks

r i c a n
A m e
r i c a n r u n k
A f t h e r T
n d m o s
G ra a p h i e
Bi o g r

33
Dr. Justina Ford
When: 1871 - 1952
Where: Born in Illinois, moved to Chicago,
and then to Denver
Why Important: Justina Ford overcame
prejudice and discrimination to become
Denver’s first female African American
doctor. Ford was a pioneer in opening up a
profession for African Americans and women.

Her Story:
Justina Laurena Warren was born on January 22, 1871, to Melisia and Pryor Warren in
Knoxville, Illinois. This was just six years after the end of the Civil War and although
African Americans had new legal rights, they still faced discrimination. African Ameri-
can women perhaps even more so. Her mother, Melisia, was a nurse and took Justina on
her rounds. Justina’s love for medicine was clear at a young age. She often dissected frogs
and chickens as a child. Justina went to Galesburg High School, one of the few integrated
schools at the time, and did well enough to get into Hering Medical School in Chicago. She
met and married John Ford, a Baptist minister, in 1892, but continued her studies and
graduated from medical school in 1899.

After her graduation, Justina was denied her medical license. The license examiner told
her, “I feel dishonest taking a fee from you. You’ve got two strikes against you to begin
with. First of all, you’re a lady, and second, you’re colored.” Undeterred, Justina set up a
practice in Chicago from her home. A short time later, John was transferred to Zion Baptist
Church in Denver. When she and John moved to Denver, she found that the Denver General
Hospital accepted neither African American physicians nor African American patients.
Racial discrimination also prohibited Ford from joining the Colorado Medical
Association and the American Medical Association. So, she once again set up a home based
practice at 2335 Arapahoe Street. However, this gave Ford flexibility in her schedule and
allowed her to make house calls, as she believed that babies should be born only in the
home.

Justina treated anyone who needed medical care, regardless of race, gender, language,
citizenship, or even ability to pay. Many of her patients were poor whites, African
Americans, and non-English speaking immigrants who were turned away from hospitals.
Ford even learned multiple languages to help treat her patients. Her patients paid her in
goods, services, or money.

34
In 1915, Justina and Reverend Ford divorced. In her fifties, she met and married Alfred
Allen. Alfred took care of the home while she continued to practice her profession. It
wasn’t until 1950 that Dr. Ford was allowed into the Colorado and American Medical
Associations. Even then, she was the only female African American doctor in Denver.

Dr. Ford passed away in 1952 and was buried in Fairmount Cemetery. In the years since
her death she has been honored by the city of Denver. The Ford-Warren Branch Library
was named in her honor, and the Colorado Medical Society, which refused her admission
until 1950, passed a resolution in 1989 citing her as “an outstanding figure in the
development and furtherance of health care in Colorado.” She is honored in the Colorado
Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Justina Ford Medical Society was established at the
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. In 1981 her home was moved to its present-
day site on California Street and became the home of the Black American West Museum
and Heritage Center.

Four months before her death, Justina Ford said, “When all the fears, hate, and even some
death is over, we will really be brothers as God intended us to be in this land. This I believe.
For this I have worked all my life.” She would have been proud of the progress made on
behalf of minorities and women since her death. Her pioneering work and perseverance
in the face of obstacles that might have overcome women of lesser strength and character
played a large part in overcoming those barriers. Today she serves as a role model and
inspiration for many women as they follow the trail she blazed for them. Dr. Justina
Laurena Ford well deserves the honor paid to her by her state and her city.

35
Barney Ford
When: 1822 - 1902
Where: Born in Virginia, grew up in South
Carolina, fled to Chicago, moved to Central
America, and finally to Denver
Why Important: Barney Ford escaped slavery
from South Carolina using the Underground
Railroad. He became a successful business-
man and Civil Rights activist in Colorado.

His Story
Barney Ford was one of Colorado’s most amazing success stories. He was a former slave
from South Carolina who escaped with the help of the Underground Railroad and headed
west. Colorado has been home to many interesting pioneers, and Barney Ford was no
exception. Here in Colorado, Ford operated a barbershop, owned a restaurant, and ran a
hotel in booming downtown Denver. When Denver City was just a cluster of log homes and
clapboard stores, he began his string of businesses with only a barber’s chair and a pair of
clippers. After the 1860s, his successful business career made him a model pioneer citizen,
respected by his fellow Denverites.

As an established member of Denver’s community, Ford used his influence in Colorado’s

quest for statehood. Ever since he was a child, Ford believed he was destined for success
and riches. His positive outlook and goals carried him through the transformation from a
runaway slave to one of Denver’s leading citizens.

Barney Ford was born into slavery on January 22, 1822, at Stafford Courthouse, Virginia.
He grew up on a plantation in South Carolina where he worked the fields and farms.
Ford’s mother Phoebe was his inspiration through life. She raised him to someday escape
the bonds of slavery and make his way north to become a free man. His chance came when
he was seventeen. After his mother died, Barney left the South with help from the Under-
ground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a nickname for the secret operation that
transported escaped slaves to northern states and Canada. Barney, who did not use a last
name until later, stayed in Chicago with his friends to learn the barber’s trade. He also
worked with the Underground Railroad, helping other escaped slaves start new lives as
free people. During his stay in Chicago, Barney met and married Julia Lyoni, who helped
him choose his last name. Barney selected Ford after the steam engine locomotive the
Lancelot Ford. Ford was a self-made man at last.

Barney Ford envisioned himself equal in every way to the white men of his time. He knew
he was capable of success because he taught himself how to read and write as a young
man. While in Chicago, Ford read books of classic literature, politics, and economics. Just a
36
few years after his escape, Ford and his new wife, Julia, left for the California gold fields in
1851. On the way, their ship detoured at a port called Greytown in Nicaragua. They decid-
ed to stay. The Fords opened a small but comfortable hotel and restaurant to serve
passengers travelling up and down the coasts, near the present-day Panama Canal. The
United States Hotel, as it was named, proudly offered clean rooms and home-cooked
American meals. This early business venture prepared Ford to make his riches in Colorado
in later years. The Fords left Greytown because the threat of war put the hotel (and their
lives) in danger. Having been a successful hotel owner and respected member of the Grey-
town community, Barney Ford dreamed of bigger and better business opportunites in the
American West.

In 1860 Ford came to Colorado with plans to strike it rich in the gold mining business.
Because he was African American, Ford was denied the right to stake a claim in his own
name. He was advised by a friendly lawyer to put the deed in the lawyer’s name while
keeping the gold profits. Ford was cheated out of his claim when the “friendly” lawyer had
him legally thrown off the mountain. His claim was jumped. In Denver, the Fords
began again, never discouraged after each catastrophe. Ford set up a barbershop down-
town where he impressed leading citizens with his eloquent speech and worldly
knowledge. The great fire in April of 1863 burned much of Denver City to the ground,
including Ford’s barbershop. With a detailed plan in mind, Ford borrowed $9,000 from
local banker Luther Kountze to build a “first rate business.” Within four months, Ford’s
newly built People’s Restaurant was a permanent fixture in the Rocky Mountains. With
his profits and experience, Ford later built and operated the fine Inter-Ocean Hotel at the
corner of Sixteenth and Blake streets in downtown Denver.

When the Civil War ended in 1865, Ford and his friend Henry Wagoner began to fight
for the rights of African Americans in Colorado. His influence as a leading Denver citizen
helped him convince congressmen in Washington, D.C. to reject a bid for Colorado state-
hood. The 1865 bid for statehood did not allow African American men to vote. Ford would
not support a state constitution that barred black men from voting now that they were
free citizens of the United States. In addition to supporting African American rights, he
helped start adult education programs for freed people in Colorado. Ford was also the first
African American to serve on a Colorado grand jury—an inspiring and praiseworthy
appointment. Barney Ford succeeded as a businessman, respected member of society, and
a friend to all people.

A year after his death in 1902, the Denver Post honored Barney Ford in an article devoted
to early Denver pioneers. The December 31, 1903, issue stated, “One of Denver’s promi-
nent citizens in the early days was a colored man, Barney Ford, who made and lost half a
dozen fortunes and finally retired from business with a competence.” After a description
of his life and business accomplishments the article continued, “Barney Ford was the most
noted caterer and restaurateur in the Rocky Mountain region, respected by everyone and
patronized by the best people. Many distinguished men including Generals Grant,
37
Sheridan, Sherman, and Dent, were banqueted at his famous table.” Barney Ford is
recognized today for his incredible optimism as much as for his great business success.
He always knew that some day he would be known as Mister Barney Ford, leading Denver
citizen and pioneer of free enterprise in the American West.

38
James Pierson Beckwourth
When: 1805 - 1866
Where: Coming to St. Louis in the mid-
1800s as the mulatto slave of his
blacksmith father, the young man quickly
set out to conquer the West as a mountain
man. By 1860 he moved to the young town
of Denver, Colorado Territory.
Why Important: For at least two decades
he roamed the mountains and plains of the
West and Northwest as part of the French
fur trade, colleague of men like Jim Bridger
and Kit Carson.

His Story
James Pierson Beckwourth was an American mountain man, fur trader, and explorer. An
African American born into slavery in Virginia, he later moved to the American West. As a
fur trapper, he lived with the Crow for years. He is credited with the discovery of
Beckwourth Pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains between current day Reno, Ne-
vada, and Portola, California, during the California Gold Rush years, and improved the
Beckwourth Trail, which thousands of settlers followed to central California.

He was the only African American in the West to record his life story; he told it to Thomas
D. Bonner, an itinerant justice of the peace. The book was published in New York and
London in 1856 as The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth: Mountaineer, Scout and
Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. A translation was published in France in
1860.

Early historians of the West originally considered the book little more than campfire lore.
It has since been reassessed as a valuable source of social history, especially for life among
the Crow, although not all its details are reliable or accurate.

In 1824 as a young man, Beckwourth joined Gen. William Ashley’s fur trapping company
as a wrangler on Ashley’s expedition to explore the Rocky Mountains. In the following
years, Beckwourth became known as a prominent trapper and mountain man. He worked
with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and was an Indian fighter. He was well known for
telling lore about his adventures.

On an 1826 rendezvous, trapper and colleague Caleb Greenwood told the campfire story
39
of Beckwourth’s being the child of a Crow chief. He claimed to have been stolen as a baby
by raiding Cheyenne and sold to whites. This lore was widely believed, as Beckwourth had
looked and acted like an American Indian for years.

Later that year, Beckwourth claimed to have been captured by Crow Indians while
trapping in the border country between the territories of Crow, Cheyenne and Blackfoot.
According to his account, they thought he was the lost son of a Crow chief, so they
admitted him to the nation. Independent accounts suggest his stay with the Crow was
planned by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to advance its trade with the tribe.
Beckwourth married the daughter of a chief, and may have had multiple wives.

For the next eight to nine years, Beckwourth lived with a Crow band. He rose in their
society from warrior to chief and leader of the Dog clan. According to his book, he even-
tually ascended to the highest-ranking war chief of the Crow nation. He still trapped but
did not sell his or Crow furs to his former partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
Instead, he sold to John Jacob Astor’s competing American Fur Company. Beckwourth
participated in raids by the Crow on neighboring nations and the occasional white party.
Sometimes such raids escalated to warfare, most often against bands of their traditional
Blackfoot enemy.

In 1850 he was credited with discovering what came to be called Beckwourth Pass, a low-
elevation pass through the Sierra Nevada. In 1851 he improved what became called Beck-
wourth Trail, originally an American Indian path through the mountains. It began near
Pyramid Lake and the Truckee Meadows east of the mountains, climbed to the pass named
for him, and went along a ridge between two forks of Feather River before passing down
to the gold fields of northern California at Marysville. The trail spared the settlers and gold
seekers about 150 miles and several steep grades and dangerous passes, such as Donner
Pass.

In 1859, Beckwourth returned to Missouri briefly, but settled later that year in Denver,
Colorado. He was a storekeeper and local agent for Indian affairs. In 1864 Beckwourth was
hired by Colonel John M. Chivington of the Third Colorado Volunteers to act as a scout for
a campaign against the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The territory’s campaign resulted in the
Sand Creek Massacre, in which the militia killed an estimated 163 friendly Cheyenne men,
women and children who had camped in an area suggested by the previous
commander of Fort Lyon and flew an American flag to show their status.

Outraged by the massacre, the Cheyenne forbid Beckwourth from trading with them. Well
into his 60s by then, Beckwourth returned to trapping. The US Army employed him as a
scout at Fort Laramie and Fort Phil Kearny in 1866.

40
Clara (Aunt Clara) Brown
When: 1803 - 1885
Where: Born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1803,
in 1856 she was freed from slavery and traveled west
in search of her daughter, settling in Colorado.
Why Important: While traveling, her wagon train
arrived in Cherry Creek. There she set up a laundry
business to serve the miners. After six months Clara
left Denver and set up business in Mountain City
(later Central City). Brown invested her earnings in
real estate and acquired a small fortune. She became
known in the community as “Aunt Clara” as she
provided food, shelter, and nursing care to the
townspeople.

Her Story
Clara Brown was probably born into slavery in Virginia around 1800. Wealthy white
southerners who “owned” Clara often auctioned her to the highest bidder as if she were a
horse to be sold. Each time she was bought, she would have to move, sometimes even to a
different state. Clara married when she was eighteen, and later gave birth to four children.
Tragically, all of her children and her husband were sold to different people across the
country. She vowed to work for the rest of her life to reunite her shattered family.
Clara worked as a domestic servant until 1856 when her “owner” at the time, George
Brown, died. Fortunately, his family helped Clara achieve her freedom, and she could begin
the search for her missing children.

Hearing that one of her daughters, Eliza, may have moved to the West, Clara headed in
that direction. She had money to travel, but black people at the time were forbidden from
buying stagecoach tickets. Instead, she convinced a group of prospectors to take her with
them. On their way to Colorado in search of gold, she would work as their cook. The
journey was long and rough and Clara had to walk alongside the wagon for much of the
nearly 700-mile trek.

Once in Denver, Clara was unable to find her daughter. She decided to travel with gold
seekers to Central City in the summer of 1859. The town was made up of gold mines, small
stores, saloons, and shacks for miners and their families. Clara was one of the first African
American women to reach the gold-mining towns of Colorado.

Clara’s two most important goals were to make enough money to live independently and
to find her family. She figured that accomplishing the first goal would help her with the
41
second. Clara started by opening a small laundry service for the gold miners of Central
City. The business was very successful, and she began saving her money. To make even
more, she cooked, cleaned, and catered special engagements. By the end of the Civil War in
1865, when most black people were just gaining their legal freedom, Clara had saved ten
thousand dollars. This was an astonishing amount of money. With this wealth, she invested
in mining claims and Colorado real estate. She could now support herself very well.

Like most of the small black population of Colorado, “Aunt” Clara saw the importance
of living within a strong community. In Central City, her business and her home became
community hubs. Sick or injured miners, regardless of race, would often turn to her for
help. Clara gave them a place to recover and cared for them until they were able to return
to work. She also helped those who were homeless and needed a place to stay. Pregnant
women in town often wanted Clara to help deliver their babies. She provided many of
these services for free to those who could not afford them.

Clara Brown was a Presbyterian, but she did not discriminate against other faiths.
She gave money and time to four different churches in town. As she had done in Denver,
she also helped start the first Sunday school program in town. She used her home as the
classroom. While her faith was strong and her finances secure, Clara was still missing
something…her family.

Once she had saved enough money, Clara Brown began the hunt for her family. She trav-
eled to Kentucky and Tennessee in search of her loved ones. Though she did not find her
children or husband, she did not return empty-handed. Clara discovered other relatives
on her trip, and she paid for them to move to Colorado. She also helped other freed blacks
to move here for many years. When they arrived, she helped them find jobs in their new
home.

In 1879, Clara acted as an official representative of Colorado Governor Pitkin to

Kansas. Many black people had escaped from the South and moved to black homesteads in
Kansas. This was sometimes called the “Black Exodus,” and these people were called
“Exodusters.” Governor Pitkin sent Clara Brown to Kansas to try to persuade some of them
to move to Colorado. Many jobs were available in Colorado due to mining strikes and labor
shortages. Clara delivered Governor Pitkin’s invitation and donated some of her own
money to support the new black communities.

In spite of all her successes, disaster was just around the corner. In 1864, a great flood
swept through Denver and destroyed much of the town. The papers proving that
Clara Brown owned property there were lost. In 1873, Clara’s home and several of her
other properties went up in flames in a huge fire in Central City. Clara now had nothing to
show for all her years of work, but people in the community came to her rescue.
Someone even set her up in a cottage in Denver.

42
In 1882, when Clara was about 80 years old, good news brought fresh hope of finding her
daughter. She received word that a black woman named Eliza lived in Council Bluffs,
Iowa. This woman was born about the same time as Clara’s child, Eliza. She had been taken
from her mother and sold to another family, and she even looked a bit like Clara.

With money from her friends, “Aunt” Clara immediately traveled to Iowa to find out if this
person could indeed be her Eliza. They met in Iowa, and the two joyfully discovered that
they were in fact mother and daughter! The story of their reunion was widely published in
newspapers in Colorado and throughout the Midwest. After forty-seven years of
separation and searching, Clara’s dream had finally come true. Eliza was the only child
Clara ever found, and the two returned to Colorado where they lived until Clara’s death.

“Aunt” Clara Brown passed away in her sleep just three years after being reunited with her
daughter. Crowds flocked to her funeral. The mayor of Denver and the governor of
Colorado even attended the ceremony. The Colorado Pioneer Association made Clara
Brown their first African American member, and funded her entire funeral. Clara
Brown’s name and reputation have lived on in the years since her death. A chair in the
Central City Opera House was installed in her name in the 1930s. This is an honor reserved
for well-respected community members. In 1977, Clara’s life and achievements were
commemorated with a stained glass portrait of her in the state capitol building. She also
has a plaque on the St. James Methodist Church in Central City, which explains that her
home served as the first church in the area. An opera about her life, called Gabriel’s
Daughter, debuted in Central City in 2003.

People say that Clara Brown went from being a slave to being an angel. She was an expe-
rienced black woman who lived with purpose and passion. She recognized the power of
community and in building relationships. She found her way out of a life of enslavement to
establish a new life in Colorado. Her success in business gave her the chance to share her
wealth with friends and family. She worked to develop the black community in Colorado.
The discovery of her daughter, Eliza, turned her lifelong dream into reality. In her own time
of crisis, favors and kindness were lovingly returned to her.

43
Hattie McDaniel

When: 1895 - 1952

Where: Born in Wichita, Kansas, to former
slaves, in 1900 moved to Fort Collins and then
to Denver Colorado.
Why Important: She was the first African
American to win an Academy Award of any
kind. She won the award for Best Supporting
Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with
the Wind (1939).

Her Story:
Hattie McDaniel, well-known as the first black Oscar winner for her role as Mammy in
Gone With the Wind, gave her first public performances as a grade school student in Den-
ver, Colorado. Her father, Henry McDaniel, traveled through Colorado with his own min-
strel show, but would not allow Hattie to accompany him and brothers Otis and Sam. Hat-
tie was allowed to perform locally with the traveling minstrel shows that performed at
East Turner Hall. In 1910, when she won the Women’s Christian Temperance Union’s
recitation contest with her rendition of “Convict Joe,” the audience gave her both a
standing ovation and the Gold Medal. Although only a sophomore, Hattie insisted that she
wanted to perform and convinced her parents that she should quit school to join her
father’s show.

She developed a talent for writing songs, danced, and had an excellent singing voice.
After Henry retired, Hattie looked for other venues and in the early 1920s began to sing
with Denver’s well-known Professor George Morrison, a classically trained violinist whose
race prevented him from joining a symphony orchestra. Instead, he developed an
orchestra that played “jazz” songs and traveled the Pantages Circuit through the western
states.

Hattie interspersed her travels with the Morrison orchestra with venues elsewhere, since
star billing eluded the majority of African American performers and everyone took work
wherever they could find it. Her biggest break came when she began performing at
Milwaukee’s Club Madrid. Though originally hired as the ladies room attendant, she
ultimately found her way onto the club’s stage and became a featured nightly act.
Convinced that her talent could take her further, Hattie moved to Hollywood to join a
brother and two sisters in 1931.
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Once established in Hollywood, McDaniel found no shortage of work. In 1936 alone she
appeared in twelve films. For the decade as a whole her performances numbered about
forty—nearly all of them in the role of maid or cook to a white household. McDaniel won
the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind over several rivals. Her salary was to be $450 a
week, which was much more than what her real-life counterparts could hope to earn.

McDaniel’s performance as Mammy was more than a bit part. It so impressed the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that she was awarded the 1940 Oscar for best sup-
porting actress, the first ever won by an African American.
McDaniel’s award-winning performance was generally seen by the black press as a symbol
of progress for African Americans, although some members of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) were still displeased with her work. At the
least, her Oscar was a symbol of possible conciliation (the act of settling a dispute)
between the races.

McDaniel spent much of 1940 touring the country as Mammy, and in the following year
she appeared in three substantial film roles, earning more than $31,000 for her efforts. She
was married, for a third time, to James L. Crawford in 1941.

The mid-1940s brought trying times for McDaniel, who experienced a heart-wrenching
false pregnancy in 1944 and soon after became the victim of racist-inspired legal
problems. The actress found herself in a legal battle over a system in Los Angeles that
limited the land and home ownership rights of African Americans. Having purchased a
house in 1942, McDaniel faced the possibility of being thrown out of her home. She was
one of several black entertainers who challenged the racist system in court, and won.

Still, throughout the 1940s a growing number of activists viewed McDaniel and all she
represented as damaging to the budding fight for civil rights. NAACP president Walter
White pressed both actors and studios to stop making films that tended to ridicule black
people, and he singled out the roles of Hattie McDaniel as particularly offensive. In
response McDaniel defended her right to choose whichever roles she saw fit, adding that
many of her screen roles had shown themselves to be more than equal to that of their
white employers.

Despite the fact that Hattie McDaniel, born in 1895, did not live in Denver until she was
six and left the city to travel while still a teen, Denverites have always claimed her as their
own. She died on October 2, 1952, and was the first African American buried in Los
Angeles’s Rosedale Cemetery.

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Food
The 2000 U.S. Census revealed that there were almost 35 million African Americans, or
about 13 percent of the total U.S. population. This small percentage of the populace has
had a significant influence on American cuisine, not only because African American food
is diverse and flavorful, but also because of its historical beginnings. Despite their cultural,
political, economic, and racial struggles, African Americans have retained a strong sense of
their culture, which is, in part, reflected in their food.

Southern slaves established their own cooking culture using foods that were similar to
foods that were part of their African and West Indian heritages, and many popular foods
in the African American diet are directly associated with foods in Africa. For instance, the
African yam is similar to the American sweet potato. White rice is also popular because it
was a major part of the diet in West Africa. African Americans infuse plain rice dishes with
their own savory ingredients.

Popular southern foods, such as the vegetable okra, are often attributed to the importation
of goods from Africa, or by way of Africa, the West Indies, and the slave trade. Okra, which
is the principal ingredient in the popular Creole stew referred to as gumbo, is believed to
have spiritual and healthful properties. Rice, seafood, and filé are also key ingredients in
gumbo. Other common foods that are rooted in African American culture include black-
eyed peas, eggplant, sorghum, watermelon, and peanuts.

Though southern food is typically known as “soul food,” many African Americans contend
that soul food consists of African American recipes that have been passed down from
generation to generation, just like other African American rituals . The legacy of African
and West Indian culture is imbued in many of the recipes and food traditions that remain
popular today. The staple foods of African Americans, such as rice, have remained largely
unchanged since the first Africans and West Indians set foot in the New World, and the
southern United States, where the slave population was most dense, has developed a cook-
ing culture that remains true to the African American tradition.

Many regionally influenced cuisines emerged from the interactions of American Indian,
European, Caribbean, and African cultures. After emancipation, many slaves left the South
and spread the influence of soul food to other parts of the United States. Barbecue is one
example of African-influenced cuisine that is still widely popular throughout the United
States. The Africans who came to colonial South Carolina from the West Indies brought
with them what is today considered signature southern cookery, known as barbacoa, or
barbecue. The original barbecue recipe’s main ingredient was roasted pig, which was
heavily seasoned in red pepper and vinegar. But because of regional differences in live-
stock availability, pork barbecue became popular in the eastern United States, while beef
barbecue became popular in the West.

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Holidays
Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family,
community and culture. Celebrated from the 26th of December thru the 1st of January,
its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The
name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits”
in Swahili, which is the most widely spoken African language.

Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of African “first fruit” celebrations: in-
gathering, reverence, commemoration, recommitment, and celebration. Rooted in this an-
cient history and culture, Kwanzaa developed as a flourishing branch of the African Ameri-
can life and struggle as a recreated and expanded ancient tradition. Thus, it bears special
characteristics not only of an African American holiday, but also a Pan-African one, for it
draws from the cultures of various African peoples, and is celebrated by millions of Afri-
cans throughout the world African community. Moreover, these various African peoples
celebrate Kwanzaa because it speaks not only to African Americans in a special way, but
also to Africans as a whole, in its stress on history, values, family, community and culture.

Kwanzaa was established in 1966 in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement and thus
reflects its concern for cultural groundedness in thought and practice, and the unity and
self-determination associated with this. It was conceived and established to serve several
functions.

Music
Denver’s Five Points neighborhood is, for some, considered the “Harlem of the West” due
to its long jazz history. It was the first predominantly African American neighborhood in
Denver and thought of as a city within a city. In the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, it was home to over
fifty bars and clubs, where some of the great jazz musicians, such as Billie Holiday, Duke
Ellington, Miles Davis and others played. The Rossonian Hotel, Benny Hooper’s Casino as
well as the Rainbow Ballroom played vital roles as gathering places for jazz aficionados.
The after-hours club Lil’s was a favorite hangout for many of the traveling
musicians and residents of Five Points.

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Background Information
Black Past. This 4,000 page reference center is dedicated to providing information to the
general public on African American history in the United States and on the history of the
more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world.
http://www.blackpast.org/

Colorado’s Women’s Hall of Fame. The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to rec-
ognizing and preserving the history of the accomplishments of past and present Colorado
women. Both historical and contemporary women have shared foresight, vision, and the
power of accomplishment but lacked a forum for recognition. The Colorado Women’s Hall
of Fame ensures that their splendid achievements will not be forgotten.
http://www.cogreatwomen.org/index.htm

The Black American West Museum. Founded in 1971 by Paul W. Stewart, the Museum is
dedicated to collecting, preserving and disseminating the contributions of Blacks in the
Old West.
http://www.blackamericanwestmuseum.com/

Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. The wide range of resources at the
Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library offers many possibilities for scholars,
writers, students and historians.
http://aarl.denverlibrary.org/archives/accomplished.html

Biographies
Ed. T.D. Bonner, The Life and Adventures of James T. Beckwourth: Mountaineer, Scout and
Pioneer.

John W. Ravage, Black Pioneers: Images of the Black Experience on the North American Fron-
tier .

Tricia Martineau Wagner, African American Women of the Old West

Roger Baker, Clara an Ex-Slave in Gold Rush Colorado

Barney Ford House Museum, Breckenridge, Colorado.

Carleton Jackson, Hattie: The Life of Hattie McDaniel

Thomas L. Riis, Just Before Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890 to 1915

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Food and Culture
FAQS.org. Food History and Diet of African Americans.
http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/A-Ap/African-Americans-Diet-of.html#ixzz0vfaOHIv2

The Official Kwanzaa Website.

http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/origins1.shtml

Rocky Mountain PBS’s “Jazz in Five Points”

http://www.rmpbs.org/panorama/?entry=31

PBS Kids also offers an interactive site about jazz which includes a jazz timeline, biogra-
phies of jazz greats and a chance for students to create their own jazz band and experi-
ence jazz music.
http://pbskids.org/jazz/index.html

If you are interested in other programs offered by History Colorado please call
303-866-3682, or visit our web site www.coloradohistory.org.

After exploring this trunk, you may consider taking History Colorado’s Walking
Tour of Five Points. To register, please call 303-866-3682. Walking tours must
be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.
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