Black American West Museum: Paul Stewart & Black Cowboys

On the Black American West Gallery’s website, there’s in fact a picture of Paul Stewart leaning up versus one of them with the most significant smile. You obtained ta number he had the most enjoyable placing together the cowboy area.

Paul Stewart’s Vision Takes Root

Thinking about the historic importance of her home and his demand for a bigger area for the collection, Paul Stewart leapt at the opportunity to preserve the house. It just made sense. He moved his collection, which for the document had 10s of countless artifacts by now, into Justina Ford’s home.

Paul was taking in all this brand-new info when he relocated to 5 Points, a neighborhood in Denver that at the time was bulk black. While individuals were getting their cut, Paul would certainly ask them about the histories of their family members and of the location. By the time they ‘d come in for their following cut, they ‘d bring Paul some of those old mementos or photos from the ancestor that they pointed out last time.

Collecting History at the Barbershop

Paul Stewart really did not also speak to the Black cowboy he found in midtown Denver. He was stunned, and it was virtually like his younger self came back to the surface area. He would certainly never seen a black male clothed like that, other than perhaps in his old daydreams as a youngster. Today a grown guy, he began doing his own research study.

My name is Baudelaire, and this is Atlas Obscura, an event of the world’s strange, incredible, and astounding locations. Today, we go to Denver, Colorado, to the Black American West Gallery, to listen to exactly how little Paul would certainly take place to commit his life to telling the stories of the Black cowboys. And along the road, he would certainly emerge tales about Black payments to the American West.

Paul’s consumers in fact provided him a concept. That residence belonged to the very first accredited Black women medical professional in Denver, Dr. Justina Ford.

Paul and his team additionally took the house’s dining room that then ended up being Dr. Ford’s office and made it an area committed to her heritage. They’ve spread her actual devices throughout the area, with boards up on the wall with her pictures and even more of her story.

From individual keepsakes, photos, garments, paintings, letters, you call it. Then, he and his staff reached work using each area to commemorate a various component of the Black history of the American West. Naturally, there’s the Black cowboy room. There’s saddles, all types of cowboy hats, and photos of Black cowboys on every wall doing methods on their horses.

Museum owner Paul Stewart usually traveled to local class, like this Denver elementary school, to share the stories of Colorado’s Black Cowboys. Courtesy of the BLACK AMERICAN WEST MUSEUM AND HERITAGE FACILITY

Discovering Black Cowboys’ Legacy

He found out concerning Black cowboys like Nat Love, also known as Nonessential Prick, who got his name due to the fact that he was so fast with his weapon in Nonessential, South Dakota, in the years complying with the Civil War. Paul quickly discovered that not only did Black cowboys exist, yet simply concerning one in every three cowboys were Black.

And this is where it obtained truly interesting. Paul discovered out her two-story Italianate-style brick home was even more than simply her home.

Dr. Justina Ford’s Historic Home

In the middle of that, he reached maintain his internal kid satisfied telling the stories of people like Nat Love and Deadwood Prick. Paul Stewart died in 2015, but even now with him gone, the museum is still loaded with folks that want to proceed that goal, so no other child could ever before be told that black cowboys really did not exist. Today, many thanks to Paul, those children belong, a monolith, that proves that could not be better from the truth.

A couple of decades later, Paul’s a produced guy out in Denver, Colorado with his cousin when he walks past a real-life Black cowboy. Really, the man was just going concerning his day, however Paul was awestruck.

Which wouldn’t be the first time Paul had that trouble. You see, throughout the ’70s and very early ’80s, Paul was taking a trip throughout the American West mosting likely to programs and meeting enthusiasts to include in his very own collection. Paul’s artifacts and pictures grew out of different homes till the collection finally discovered a permanent touchdown location in 1983. And it was potentially a lot more uncommon home than the barbershop. It belonged to one more individual who aided shape the American West.

After the gallery was up and running, Paul Stewart got on the road himself, traveling to schools teaching children regarding Black people’s participation in the early years of the American West. He started leaning right into the anthropology of it all, figured out to preserve the stories of individuals like Dr. Justina Ford and many other miners, farmers, and travelers that developed the American West.

Museum’s Educational Outreach

Our podcast is a co-production of Atlas Obscura and Stitcher Studios. Individuals that make our show consist of Dylan Thuras, Doug Baldinger, Chris Naka, Kameel Stanley, Johanna Mayer, Manolo Morales, Amanda McGowan, Alexa Lim, Casey Holford, and last but not least, Luz Fleming. Our theme songs is by Sam Tindall.

Till one day, little Paul was told by one more child there was no such thing as a Black cowboy. Today, we go to Denver, Colorado, to the Black American West Gallery, to listen to exactly how little Paul would certainly go on to commit his life to telling the stories of the Black cowboys. Paul Stewart didn’t even speak to the Black cowboy he came across in midtown Denver. Paul quickly learned that not just did Black cowboys exist, yet simply concerning one in every 3 cowboys were Black. Paul Stewart passed away in 2015, yet also now with him gone, the gallery is still complete of folks that want to continue that goal, so no other child could ever before be told that black cowboys didn’t exist.

Paul Stewart grew up in the very early 1930s as a Black child who loved absolutely nothing more than playing “Cowboys and Indians” with his good friends. He imagined concerning life in bush West. That concept of coping with no regulations and riding from community to town with simply his reliable horse by his side.

When she had not been participating in the shipment of infants, Dr. Ford was a pediatrician and a family doctor. Picture exactly how active this lady was. And you might be questioning why all this needed to be done out of her house to begin with. Well, though Dr. Ford got her medical permit in 1902, she was refuted subscription to the Colorado Medical Society, and you required that membership to practice in the medical facility. So she made it all occur out of her home.

Up until one day, little Paul was told by another kid there was no such thing as a Black cowboy. Disappointed, little Paul type of let go of his fascination of cowboys and the wild west.

After a few years, the hair salon was actually half a barbershop, and the various other fifty percent was the first model of the Black American West Gallery. As the collection grew, it at some point became also much for Paul’s hair salon.