More

HuffPost Social Reading

BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: The Southwest Edition

Posted: 02/23/2012 11:52 am

Today's edition of Black Voices Black History Quest is based in Southwest.

Don't believe what you've heard. The southwst isn't just sweeping landscapes and cacti. It also has a rich black history that can be mapped and explored with your family.

If you're looking for a road trip that will take you and yours through some of the most beautiful parts of America as well as give you a taste of the wild wild west, today's your day!

You can plan a trip with your family to these places with the helpful map, courtesy of MapQuest, below!

If we missed a place that you know and love, let us know in the comments, tweet it to us using the hashtag #BHMQuest or post it on our Facebook wall. We'll keep adding to this map and gallery as the month goes on.

Dearfield
1  of  87
PLAY
FULLSCREEN
ZOOM
SHARE THIS SLIDE 
After years of searching for land to be used for an African-American agricultural community, Oliver T. Jackson purchased a 320-acre tract 30 miles east of Greeley, Colo., in 1910. Born in Ohio in 1862, Jackson envisioned this land as the future home of an all-black farming settlement that would support 200 families. When the Colorado chapter of the National Negro Business League abruptly withdrew its support, Jackson was forced to continue the settlement on his own. Dearfield, Jackson's dream community, grew slowly but surely, eventually reaching a peak population of 700 in 1920. However, what Jackson had struggled to build at Dearfield, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression slowly wiped away, according to an article on The Fence Post website. Reduced to 12 residents by 1940, it was not long thereafter that Dearfield became a ghost town. In recent years, much of the land on which Dearfield stood has been acquired by the Denver-based Black American West Museum, which is working to preserve the historical community for future generations to enjoy. In 2001, the Colorado Historical Society installed a three-panel historical marker just off U.S. Highway 85 at Mile Marker 264. Panel Three of the marker commemorates Dearfield as "Colorado's largest African American colony."

-- Don Amerman

Address: U.S. Highway 85, 30 miles east of Greeley
Telephone: Call the Black American West Museum at 720-242-7428.
Hours Of Operation: Check museum for special events.
Cost: Depends on event.
MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT >   |   < PREV
RATE IT!   |  
VOTE
CURRENT TOP 5 PICK YOUR OWN TOP 5
USERS WHO VOTED
NEW! CREATE YOUR OWN SLIDESHOW

FOLLOW HUFFPOST BLACK VOICES

Today's edition of Black Voices Black History Quest is based in Southwest. Don't believe what you've heard. The southwst isn't just sweeping landscapes and cacti. It also has a rich black history...
Today's edition of Black Voices Black History Quest is based in Southwest. Don't believe what you've heard. The southwst isn't just sweeping landscapes and cacti. It also has a rich black history...
Related News On Huffington Post:
 

BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Memphis Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Pittsburgh Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: New York Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Phoenix Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: San Francisco/Oakland Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Denver Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Chicago Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Little Rock, Arkansas Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Boston Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Detroit Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Los Angeles Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Ohio Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Montgomery, Alabama Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Charleston, S.C. Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Baltimore Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Kansas City Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Atlanta Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Augusta, Georgia Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Dallas-Fort Worth Edition BlackVoices History Quest, Black History In Your Backyard: Philadelphia Edition Join The Black Voices History Quest: A Guide To The Black History In Your Backyard
Filed by Lucette Jefferson  | 
What's Your Reaction?
Amazing
 Inspiring
 Funny
 Scary
 Hot
 Crazy
 Important
 Weird

More in Black Voices...


 
 
  • Comments
  • 1
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Recency  | 
Popularity
photo
Diggduggz
6 Fans
01:53 PM on 02/23/2012
Handy Chapel in Grand Junction Colorado is a historic site that has been around for more than a 100 years...ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL. OMG...I moved to Grand Junction in 1973 and I never saw another black person! In fact I lived only a few blocks from this church, and my paper route as a child was in the Handy Chapel location. Wow, I didn't know there were any black people in Grand Junction when I was a child...I wish I'd known...I wouldn't have felt so alone
Permalink  |