How a Boulder museum exhibit celebrates overlooked Black Coloradans

An exhibit at the Museum of Boulder illuminates the stories of Black Coloradans, highlighting their influence on the region's history and their impact on the future. 

Proclaiming Colorado's Black History centers on places like the once-bustling farming community of Dearfield; and notable people like businessman Barney Ford and philanthropist Julia Greeley, a formerly enslaved person who is presently a candidate for Catholic sainthood.

It's about sharing the lives and stories of people who aren't necessarily in Colorado's history books, said Adrian Miller, co-Project Director and lead curator for the exhibit.

"It's important because we're in a time now, across the country, where Black history is actually being vanished, where there are laws being passed and other things to discourage giving a more comprehensive view of our history," said Miller.

The project was several years in the making, and was shaped with a lot of community input and collaboration, Miller said. It includes a variety of installations, collections of oral histories, and an art display that delves into Afrofuturism. The exhibit will be open through September 2025. 

Miller joined host Erin O'Toole ahead of the exhibit's launch. We're listening back to that conversation today, in celebration of Juneteenth - also known as Freedom Day.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like our conversation with CSU Professor Ray Black. He led a Juneteenth bike ride in Fort Collins to illuminate and celebrate the city's Black history. 

This is an encore of our podcast from Sept. 28, 2023.