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 Some Kosuge and Cornelio Vigil.
Some Kosuge — Teacher / Writer / Japanese Picture Bride, (1886-1968)
A descendant of Samurai warriors, Some Kosuge was born and raised in Fukushima, Japan. She attended teacher’s college in Fukushima, and taught there at a high school for girls for five years before coming to the U.S. in 1912 as a “picture bride.” The custom at that time was for the couple, living at opposite ends of the globe, to be introduced and married through the mail. Some then joined her new husband, Skikirobe Nakane, at a farm he was leasing near Sterling. While helping him farm and raising their ten children, Some found time to write a weekly column for a Japanese-language newspaper in Denver called The Colorado Times. She also wrote poems and articles that were published nationally in magazines and books, and taught English at a school for the local Japanese community. When he lost his farm lease in 1938, Skikirobei moved the family to Denver where he worked at the Brown Palace Hotel, while Some continued writing under the pen name Hakuei.
Cornelio Vigil — Southern Colorado Land Grant Patriarch ‒ (1788-1847)
Cornelio Vigil was a Mexican probate judge who lived in Taos during the early 1800s. At that time, the Mexican government, wary of incursions into its northernmost territories by US troops, began offering grants to anyone willing to occupy and develop the land. Vigil and businessman Ceran St. Vrain applied for a grant, promising to raise sheep, cattle, and crops, and to establish a colony on the property. They were given a four-million-acre, diamond-shaped plot that extended northward from Trinidad to Pueblo, and westward from Bent’s Fort to Fort Garland, thereby rendering them the largest landowners in North American history. Their good fortune, however, was short-lived. Vigil was killed during the Taos uprising of 1847. After the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), St. Vrain and Vigil’s heirs petitioned the U.S. Government to retain possession of the land. In 1860 Congress confirmed the grant, but instead of the original four million acres, each petitioner was awarded only 97,000 acres, a mere fraction of the original total.
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
Week Forty-Nine: Marcella Lucero Trujillo and William N. Byers
Week Fifty: Virginia Neal Blue and William Henry Jackson
Week Fifty-One: George Morrison and Elizabeth Beranek
Week Fifty-Two: William “Billy” Adams and Mother Pancratia Bonfils
Week Fifty-Three: Elizabeth Byers and Frederick Douglass Jr.
Week Fifty-Four: Annie Maria Green and Ralph L. Carr
Week Fifty-Five: Josephine Roche and Gerald Webb
Week Fifty-Six: Yuriko Noda and Jim Reynolds
Week Fifty-Seven: Sunshine Cloud Smith and Michael Livoda
Week Fifty-Eight: Rabbi William Friedman and Theresa Garcia
Week Fifty-Nine: James Ryan Morris and Margaret Duncan Brown
Week Sixty: Delno Louise Polk and Lewis Price
Week Sixty-One: Susan Anderson and Otto Mears
Week Sixty-Two: Pete Grgich and Ya Na Ha Na Bah Moss
Week Sixty-Three: Svea Magee and Robert Trujillo
Week Sixty-Four: Jacob Lopez and Celedonia Rebolloso
Week Sixty-Five: Senon Martinez and Naomi Grothjan
Week Sixty-Six: Carmen Prado and Richard Falcon
Week Sixty-Seven: Chief Shavano and Josephine Speer
Week Sixty-Eight: Blanche Venettucci Pinello and Henry Wenge
Week Sixty-Nine: Dorothy Brown and Oski Taniwaki
Week Seventy: Sam Sandos and Dorothy McRae
Week Seventy-One: Rafael Perez Vargas and Chana de Gabbiteh Millstein
Week Seventy-Two: Marguerite Mayer and Juan Carson
Week Seventy-Three: George Sandoval and Dr. Edna-Jean Hershey
Week Seventy-Four: Hazel Rhoads Gates and Pete Fotinos
Week Seventy-Five: “Harry” Hokazono and Thyra Adams
Week Seventy-Six: Susan M. Lovelace and Dr. Leonce Evans
Week Seventy-Seven: Gavin Knox Lodge and Rumalda Martinez Atencio
Week Seventy-Eight: Towee and Kit Carson
Week Seventy-Nine: Theresa Esquivel and Michael Ryan
Week Eighty: George Norlin and Hanh Thi Nguyen
Week Eighty-One: Hazel Rhoads Gates and Sam Vigil
Week Eighty-Two: Martin Bowden and Elizabeth “Baby Doe” McCourt Tabor