History

The Union Printers Home in Colorado Springs once house patients recovering from tuberculosis. Now under renovation to become a community center, documentarians are finding fascinating artifacts that point to the complex and dynamic history of the property.

Several moments during the last two years have reflected race-based problems in Loveland — at city council, school and library board meetings, during protests and in Facebook groups. Often, a key point of contention for some residents is whether racism even exists in the city, or ever did.

Prior to World War I, Nevada’s Douglas County adopted an ordinance that prohibited Native Americans from being in the towns of Minden or Gardnerville after sunset — at the risk of jail time or worse.

Today, Moscow’s brief history as a probable sundown town seems a continent away. The northern Idaho town of 25,000 saw multiple racial justice protests last year. Black Lives Matter signs line the windows of Moscow’s downtown restaurants and cafes. But some people of color still feel uneasy here.

Sundown towns once drove out people of color or prohibited them from living within city limits. This practice started in the late 19th century, but the impact continues today. In Colorado, Chinese immigrants flocked to the state to find gold. They were tolerated in some mining camps and run out of others.

In 1882, 63 Russian Jewish immigrants found themselves in the small town of Cotopaxi, Colorado. While their attempts to farm on rocky soil in high elevation were soon deemed fruitless, they left a remarkable impact on the state and helped to carve out a space for Jewish immigrants in the West.

Starting in 1969, Trinidad, Colorado, a small former mining town near the New Mexico border was one of the few places in the world with a clinic providing gender confirmation surgery. KUNC's Henry Zimmerman speaks with a pair of historians about a new book on the trans history of Trinidad.

Hours after 10 people were killed in a mass shooting in a Boulder King Soopers, memorials began popping up with flowers, cards and artwork commemorating the victims. The Museum of Boulder is working with local officials, as well as organizations across the country, to archive this moment in history while giving the community space to grieve.

Some Indigenous histories are preserved in stories, songs, ceremonies and elder testimony that are passed down orally — rather than with written records. These histories can constitute important evidence of past events. But they're sometimes ruled inadmissible as evidence in the American justice system.

The Equal Justice Initiative's Community Remembrance Project is working with local communities to help uncover the lost stories of lynchings – including here in Colorado. Jennifer Taylor, a senior attorney at EJI, spoke with KUNC’s Colorado Edition about their work.