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 Marcella Lucero Trujillo and William N. Byers.
Marcella Lucero Trujillo – Chicana Activist and Educator (1931-1984)
Marcella Lucero Trujillo’s inclination towards activism manifested at an early age when she became the first Hispanic girl in Alamosa to join the Girl Scouts. After graduating from university, she moved to Denver where she taught junior high school English, Spanish, and French. She went on to earn a Masters in Spanish with a minor in Linguistics at the University of Kansas. As a professor at CU Denver, she founded the Center for Students Abroad, and saw to it that the University’s curriculum included courses in Chicano studies. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Marcella became involved in the struggle for Chicano civil rights. In 1972, she founded the Pinto Project, a federally funded program to help rehabilitate ex-convicts. In addition to her work in Colorado, Trujillo was instrumental in the establishment of Centro Cultural Chicano, a pioneering agency for Latinos in the Twin Cities. A community room at the agency’s headquarters in Minnesota is named after her.
William N. Byers – Founder, Rocky Mountain News (1831-1903)
Before he turned 30, William Byers had already had a successful career as deputy surveyor of the Nebraska Territory. He also served on Omaha’s first City Council, and was later elected to the Territorial Legislature. But in 1859, he heard the siren call of the Colorado gold fields. Unlike other gold seekers, however, Byers had something else in mind. He bought the printing presses of the defunct Bellevue Gazette and brought them with him by oxcart to Colorado where, instead of panning for gold, he wrote, printed, and sold a guide to the gold fields. He later used the presses to publish the state’s first newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News. His mansion – the Byers-Evans House – serves today as the home of the Colorado Women’s Museum. Another of his mansions, at 1st and Washington, was torn down to make way for Byers Junior High School. An accomplished mountaineer, Byers guided artist Albert Bierstadt to the summit of Mount Evans, a journey that inspired Bierstadt’s masterpiece, “Storm in the Rocky Mountains.”
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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
Week Forty-Eight: Tim Flores and Irene Elizabeth Jerome Hood