The history and achievements of Colorado’s Black communities are highlighted in a new exhibit titled “Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History,” opening Monday, January 19, at the El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo.
Soldiers, educators and a city founder are among the stories of Black Puebloans presented in the exhibit.
Pueblo historian Ray Brown said those stories often go unrecognized.
“Today we're starting to open the doors to those pieces of history which are very, very important and very significant,” he said.
Brown, who also serves as the Facilities and Grounds Director for the historic Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo and as President of the Pueblo Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, helped identify stories to include in the exhibit–like Alva Jones who opened Pueblo’s first funeral home for people of color and James Beckwourth, a formerly enslaved man who founded the city’s adobe trading post.
The story of Buffalo Soldiers, Black U.S. Army regiments formed in the late 1800s, is also part of Southern Colorado’s history. Brown is a former Buffalo Soldier re-enactor. His antique military saddle, which has a surprising back story, is part of the exhibit.
Brown found the saddle online. When he called about it, the seller told him the saddle was made for Dr. John Galen Locke.
“I said, I don't know who he is,” Brown said. “He says, ‘You might want to do some research on this guy before you decide you want this saddle.’”
Historian and Buffalo Soldier re-enactor Ray Brown on his horse Dutchess in 2015. 
An antique military saddle once owned by a Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, that now belongs to Pueblo historian Ray Brown, on display in a travelling Black History exhibit.
It turned out that Locke was a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado during the 1920s. The story didn't dissuade Brown–he purchased the saddle and used it often.
Some of the other artifacts in the exhibit include a small replica blast furnace to honor Black steelworkers, along with a kitchen stove and washer from the Lincoln Home, a former orphanage that served the regional Black community in the 1900s.
A military veteran, Brown said, until he started researching the history, he didn’t know many of the stories of Black servicemen and other Black community members who were influential despite racism and other challenges.
A display in the El Pueblo History Museum featuring Pueblo native Lt. Col. Richard Lee "Bud" Biffle Jr. who was a combat veteran during the Vietnam War. 
An antique woodfired cookstove is part of the "Old Lincoln Home" display at the El Pueblo Museum in Pueblo. The Old Lincoln Home was once an orphanage serving Black children.
“I just hope that everybody has an opportunity,” he said, “not just to go in and look at the pictures, but actually take the time to read the stories and get a real strong appreciation for the people and the struggles that they dealt with.”
The exhibit opens following Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances. That includes a march from the main Pueblo Library to the museum and a program featuring dancers, songs and speakers featuring El Pueblo History Museum Director Dianne Archuleta, NAACP Pueblo President Roxana Mack, History Colorado Black Equity Study Program Manager Chloé Duplessis and Colorado State University Pueblo Former Interim President Rico Munn, J.D.
Entry to the museum will be free until 4 p.m.
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