Jan. 21 is Martin Luther King Day, a day to celebrate Dr. King’s contributions to the civil rights movement.
Countless others walked alongside Dr. King in a feverish attempt to secure the rights due to millions of disenfranchised men and women of color.
A photograph from the Town of Windsor Museum collection recalls a time when racism reached a fever pitch in Colorado. Two men stand behind a store counter with a sign affixed to a scale. The sign reads “You’re in America Now. Talk American.” The photograph probably was taken in the late 1910s to early 1920s. The image suggests some of the general unease surrounding rising immigration and perceived “dilution” of national identity.
Throughout its history, the state of Colorado has simmered with civil unrest. Just four years after the territory was awarded statehood, the city of Denver reeled from the Hop Alley riot in which 3,000 men attacked Chinese immigrants living between 15th and 17th streets, from Wazee to Blake. Homes were burned, stores looted and one Chinese businessman lynched outside the Markham Hotel.
The Johnson-Reed Act, along with the National Origins and Asian Exclusion Acts, instituted in 1924, restricted the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S. Certain ethnicities were directly targeted in the legislation, including Asian-born and southern and eastern Europeans.
Compounding the growing antagonism were the establishment of political organizations with separatist agendas who wielded incredible power. The Ku Klux Klan was a well-recognized presence in Colorado politics and managed to secure its candidate, Clarence Morley, as governor in 1924. In September of that year, the Klan led a march in Greeley 5,000-strong bearing signs reading “America is for Americans” and “Pure Womanhood,” among others.
The civil rights movement and the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 did much to educate Americans about the overwhelming disparity, not just among the races but also across genders. It is a topic as relevant today as the day it passed into law.
To see the picture alluded to earlier in this essay, visit the Town of Windsor Facebook page. Be inspired by all the Town of Windsor Museum has to offer. Visit www.windsorgov.com/artandheritage today.
Carrie Knight is the Art & Heritage manager for the Town of Windsor.