African Americans in Boulder County
"Images" Winter 2001
by Pascale Fried
February 2002 wais Black History Month. It is
time to learn more about African Americans who lived in Boulder County and
in the City of Boulder, as well as to celebrate some of their accomplishments. Like many
minorities, their contributions have been largely ignored and omitted from
history books.
After the Union's victory of the Civil War, 250 years
of slavery came to an end and the biggest wave of African American
movement to the West occurred. The lure of the West was the same for every
person, for every race - it symbolized a new beginning for anyone who
braved the journey. The African American experience during the Frontier
Era, from 1850 to 1912, was rich and diverse.
Black settlers first arrived in Colorado Territory in
1857. They came partly because of the economic chaos back east, and
because of the promise of prosperity in the West. The first known African
American to live in this area was Lorzeno Boman who arrived in 1859. He
was a runaway slave who was a successful miner in Gold Hill, and later
invented a method to separate lead from inferior ore in Central City.
An interesting fact about the early laws of the
Colorado Territory dictated that Negroes were not permitted to stake
mining claims. (This was later reversed after the area became a state in
1876.) during that time, African Americans would hire white lawyers to
make their claim, usually for a 20% commission.
Although African Americans were part of the mining rush
to Colorado, most living in the Boulder County area were employed in
towns. Black men took whatever jobs were available, usually as unskilled
laborers. They were janitors, porters, store clerks, barbers and drivers.
Many ex-slaves who worked on southern plantations knew little outside of
farming, also took up agricultural pursuits.
Black women often found jobs more easily than black
men. Most often, these frontier women took jobs catering to others such as
cooks, nannies, housekeepers, nursemaids and laundresses. African American
domestics received minimal wages, sometimes supplemented by leftover
scraps of food and cast-off clothing. African American women, like Angelo
women, followed their husbands and fathers out west. However, a greater
percentage of black women worked outside the home. This was probably due
to the need to supplement their family's income since most African
American men were paid less than white men for the same work. Whereas
white women represented 12% to 25% of all teenage and adult working women
in the 1880's, nearly 50% of African Americans were employed.
The railroad brought many African Americans to the
West. The Five Points area in Denver originated in the late 1880s because
it was the railroads terminus. Since many black men worked as railroad
porters, it was natural for them to settle in the neighborhood building
homes, hotels and local businesses. One of the most organized black
communities in the West during the Reconstruction Era was in Denver. Early
on, African American families demanded rights, petitioning the government
for the right to vote and to provide education equal to white children.
Another large employer of black men was the cattle
industry. It is estimated there were 35,000 cowboys in the boom days of
the beef industry in the late 1880s: 63% were white, 25% were black and
12% were Mexican. All-black outfits existed, but most were mixed crews. A
typical cattle drive had up to 2,500 head of cattle with a dozen men. How
well a man did his job was more important than the color of his skin.
Black cowboys were treated the same as whites while on the trail. But in
town, segregation was followed, except at the gambling tables where anyone
with money was accepted!
After the turn of the 20th century, it was more
difficult for black men to find work since overseas white immigrants were
often hired instead of them. This influenced many to start their own
businesses such as barbershops, pool halls, fish markets and tailor shops.
One Boulder resident, O. T. Jackson arrived in Colorado in 1887. He lived
in Denver for a few years before moving to eastern Boulder County where he
owned and farmed a tract of land for 16 years. Jackson also was the
manager of the Chautauqua Dining Room where he supervised 70 people. He
then owned an oyster house on 13th St. before leaving Boulder in 1907 when
Republicans won the spring election making Boulder a dry town. In 1911, he
settled a 'Negro Colony' with 7 families called Dearfield in Weld County.
His dream was a place where blacks would strive and prosper together. At
its peak in 1917, there were nearly 700 people living on 20,000 acres. The
colony failed as many did during The Depression and was abandoned by its
residents.
O. T. Jackson was one of many prominent African
Americans who lived in Colorado during the previous two centuries. Others
include Clara Brown, the first black woman to cross the Plains during the
Gold Rush in 1859. Their stories are a significant part of Colorado's
history.
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