This column tells the stories of the people whose faces appear on “A Colorado Panorama: A People’s History,” a two-block-long tile mural on the southeast side of the Colorado Convention Center. Inspired by Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking book, “A People’s History of the United States,” the mural was created by artist Barbara Jo Revelle in 1989 to celebrate those who rarely make it into the history books, but who have nonetheless had a profound impact on the history of our state. This week we’re featuring profiles of Tim Flores and Irene Elizabeth Jerome Hood.
Tim Flores – Mexican American Labor Leader (1919-1988)
Tim Flores arrived in Pueblo at the tender age of 6 months, carried there by parents who were fleeing the Mexican Revolution. His father worked for Colorado Fuel and Iron until the Great Depression. At 15, Tim dropped out of high school and worked on the railroad to help support his family. After service in Europe during WW2, he was formally granted US Citizenship. He returned to Pueblo, earned his GED, and completed an apprenticeship at Colorado Fuel and Iron. He joined the United Steelworkers of America and was elected vice president of the Pueblo Chapter in 1958. He later moved to Denver to become the first Hispanic to be elected Vice President of the AFL-CIO’s Colorado Labor Council. In the 1970s he became the Council’s Legislative Director, and fought for the rights of undocumented workers. A lifelong learner, Flores studied Labor Law at CU in his spare time. A scholarship was named in his honor by the Council for Latin American Advancement.
Irene Elizabeth Jerome Hood — Artist and Photographer, (1858-1945)
The daughter of a Protestant minister, Irene Elizabeth Jerome grew up in Ellicottville, New York. At the age of 17 she moved to Chicago to study drawing at the Academy of Design. Other than the three months she spent at the Academy, she was entirely self-taught. She had, nonetheless, an illustrious career as a professional artist. She created four books of nature photography, exhibited a collection of sketches of Colorado scenery, and created the illustrations for Enos Mills’ book, “The Story of Estes Park.” She also produced an album of 36 cyanotype (blueprint) images of Colorado wildflowers and landscapes. In 1886, she married attorney Thomas H. Hood. The couple lived together in Oak Park, Illinois, until 1892, when they relocated to Denver to be closer to Irene’s brother and his children. There she spent her time taking photographs of the children and painting watercolors of the interior and exterior of La Hacienda, her home in Denver.
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Week One: Barney L. Ford and Agnes Smedley
Week Two: Benjamin Barr Lindsey and Anne Bassett
Week Three: William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Clara Brown
Week Four: William “Big Bill” Haywood and Anne Evans
Week Five: Buckskin Charley and “Babe” Didrikson-Zaharias
Week Six: Antonia Brico and Chief Black Kettle
Week Seven: Casimiro Barela and Daisy Anderson
Week Eight: Chogyam Trungpa and Ellen Elliot Jack
Week Nine: Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone and Chin Lin Sou
Week Ten: Emily Griffith and Dalton Trumbo
Week Eleven: Chipeta and Wallace Werner
Week Twelve: Eve Drewelowe and Davis Waite
Week Thirteen: Dr. Carl J. Johnson and Florence Sabin
Week Fourteen: Damon Runyon and Emma Langdon
Week Fifteen: Ellison Onizuka and Golda Meir
Week Sixteen: John Lewis Dyer and Helen Hunt Jackson
Week Seventeen: Edward Berthoud and Frances Wisebart Jacobs
Week Eighteen: Hattie McDaniel and Enos Mills
Week Nineteen: Isabella Bird and Francis Schlatter
Week Twenty: Laura Gilpin and Henry O. Wagoner
Week Twenty-One: Justina Ford and George Norlin
Week Twenty-Two: George Bent and Julia Archibald Holmes
Week Twenty-Three: Herbert Bayer and Mabel Barbee Lee
Week Twenty-Four: Martha Maxwell and Chief Ignacio
Week Twenty-Five: Isom Dart and Marvel Crosson
Week Twenty-Six: Jack Dempsey and Mary Long
Week Twenty-Seven: Mary Lathrop and James Beckwourth
Week Twenty-Eight: John Otto and Mina Loy
Week Twenty-Nine: Mary Rippon and Joseph Henry Stuart
Week Thirty: Lauren Watson and Molly Brown
Week Thirty-One: Mary “Mother” Jones and Chief Little Bear
Week Thirty-Two: Chief Little Raven and Neva Romero
Week Thirty-Three: Olga Little and Louis Tikas
Week Thirty-Four: Lowell Thomas and Poker Alice Ivers
Week Thirty-Five: Mariano Medina and Dr. Portia Lubchenko McKnight
Week Thirty-Six: Tsianina Redfeather and Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez
Week Thirty-Seven: Minoru Yasui and Ruth Cave Flowers
Week Thirty-Eight: Sadie Likens and Neal Cassady
Week Thirty-Nine: Nikola Tesla and Rose Marie Tabor
Week Forty: Oliver Toussaint Jackson and Sarah Platt-Decker
Week Forty-One: Portia Mansfield and Luis Junior Martinez
Week Forty-Two: Chief Ouray and Anne Ellis
Week Forty-Three: Stan Brakhage and Shawsheen
Week Forty-Four: Mary “Grandma” Shelton and Thomas Ferril
Week Forty-Five: Silver Heels and Oliver E. Aultman
Week Forty-Six: Louella Gooding and Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith
Week Forty-Seven: Silas Soule and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bates