Proclaiming Colorado Black History and Afrofuturism Exhibit

Broomfield Depot Museum 
Starting October 7, open most Saturdays, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Explore Colorado’s Black History and Afrofuturism in connection with the Museum of Boulder’s new exhibit, Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History. Afrofuturism sits at the intersection of science fiction and real-life activism as a hopeful, creative Black response to American racism that emerged during the Civil Rights Movement. Learn more about Broomfield’s response to the tumult of the 1960s in the context of Colorado’s Black history and Afrofuturism.

Building off of the Broomfield Heights exhibit, which shared the story of Broomfield’s beginnings as a suburb in the 1950s, the Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History and Afrofuturism exhibit will share the story of how the Civil Rights Movement morphed into the Black Power movement during the late 1960s and Broomfield’s reaction to the larger cultural trends at the time. 

By juxtaposing Black Panther Party newsletter and magazine copy from the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library with Broomfield Star-Builder newspaper articles and editorials, two distinct stories emerge about the United States and the role of the individual in society. Broomfield is a scant 16 miles from Denver, but during the Civil Rights Movement the gulf of experience and perspective between the two cities was wide. How does this gulf, which is rooted in the historical realities of the 1960s, impact our community today? 

What can Afrofuturism (as a way for Black people to assert power and identity) teach us about the experience of African-Americans in the United States and how people shape their identities today and in the future?