Black American West Museum and Cultural Center in Denver, Colorado

Your children can learn what it was like to be a Black cowboy, miner, buffalo soldier, or pioneer in the Old West and participate in scavenger hunts. You can learn about ordinary people who were miners, soldiers, homesteaders, lawmen, schoolteachers, and any other profession that existed in the Old West. You can also learn about Dearfield, Colorado, a Black pioneer town east of Greeley, Colorado, that was founded upon the principles of Booker T. Washington at the Black American West Museum and Cultural Center in Denver, Colorado, a museum that has received publicity in publications across the United States and has been called "one of the greatest exhibits of Black history in the West" by the Smithsonian.

The Black American West Museum and Cultural Center is in the home of Dr. Justina Ford, the first African American woman doctor in Colorado, who delivered more than 7,000 babies during her career. It was founded in 1971 by Paul W. Stewart to gather, preserve, and share news about the contributions of African Americans in the West. It tells the stories of Black Americans who came out West to help build up the area. The settlers performed every imaginable profession available to help the area prosper: lawmen; ranchers; miners; soldiers; homesteaders; teachers; blacksmiths; lawmen; and numerous others.

The museum itself primarily tells the story about Dearfield, Colorado, although there is a lot more to it than just that information. The homestead exhibit tells about the bustling town of Dearfield that was founded in 1910 and at one time had 500 residents. The city prospered until the Great Depression, drought, and dust forms forced residents back to big cities. By the early 1940's there were only about a dozen residents. Not long after that the town was abandoned.

If you want to learn about African American cowboys in the Old West, in the cowboy exhibit, in the Black American West Museum and Cultural Center in Denver, you can learn about famous and less famous Black American Cowboys. You can see old spurs, spurs, saddles, chaps, hats, boots and other items cowboys had to have. You can learn how the tools were used. In fact, had you heard that one in three cowboys were African American? You can learn about Deadwood Dick, frontier scout James Beckwourth, and rodeo rider Bill Pickett. Pickett invented "bull-dogging." Black Cowboy James Arthur Walker invented the Hollywood Hop, which involved jumping off a horse that was going at full speed, then hop back on while the horse was still running.

If you've ever wanted to learn about Buffalo Soldiers, you can at this museum. These Black military units made up of both the infantry and cavalry helped the West to be settled. In the exhibit you can also learn about the Tuskegee Airmen and their part in helping America win World War II. There are uniforms, photographs, timelines, saddles, and additional tools soldiers in the Old West used.

Besides learning, you can be entertained at the museum. See an old movie starring Herbert Jeffries, a singing Black cowboy from the 1930s in the hall of education. If you want to learn more about Dearfield, you can watch a 30 minute video. There are also many other documentaries on the Black West.

If you want to learn still more yet come visit the bookstore in the Black American West Museum and Cultural Center. There are many titles about the West and how African Americans helped build it. The people who work in the bookstore will be happy to talk with you at length and answer your questions.

There are events at the museum too. The Black American West Museum and Cultural Center in Denver has participated in Haunted History Ghost Tours in the building that once housed Colorado's first African American female doctor. You can see the hotel/club/reception area Benny Hooper opened for African American servicemen. Five Points, which was a city within a city once talented individuals like Duke Ellington, Billy Holliday, and Josephine Baker. The city within a city had barbershops, saloons, pool halls, doctors, lawyers, funeral homes, and other things typically in the Old West. You can visit the site of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass' sons, where they ran a mortuary--one of the first in Denver.

The premiere children's program in the museum learn what it was like to be a cowboy, miner, buffalo soldier, or pioneer in the West. They learn about the area through songs, dress, stories, history, action, and artifacts. If those taking their children to the events schedule in advamce, they may even have re-enactors or actual Black Cowboys come in person. In the scavenger hunts, groups search for items in photographs that were handed out beforehand.

According to an article, Black American West Museum, on the website, www.blackpast.org, Paul Lewis, barber, grew up in Iowa playing cowboys and Indians. His friends always made him play an Indian, and they told him there were no Black cowboys. When he was an adult living in Denver he learned that was not true and began his search for the truth on the matter. He looked for pictures, stories, memorabilia, and clothing. He also found papers to document his facts. The motto of the museum is: "We tell it like it was."

If you've ever wanted more information about the role of African Americans in the Old West and have a chance, you might want to consider visiting the Black American West Museum and Cultural Center in Denver, Colorado.

Citations:

The Black American West Museum, no author listed, Blackamericanwestmuseum.com

Black American West Museum , no author listed, Blackpast.org

Black American West Museum, Donna Dailey, Suite101.com