Each February, Black History Month honors the achievements and contributions of African Americans to the country. Here’s how you can celebrate throughout the Denver metro area with lectures, dramatic performances, music and more, both before and after Black History Month!
Museum Exhibitions
Owl Club of Denver: Legacies of Excellence
WHEN: Thru May 10, 2025
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Explore the rich traditions of a prominent all-Black debutante cotillion club in The Mile High City. Built from oral histories, and featuring a remarkable collection of photographs, Owl Club of Denver: Legacies of Excellence recounts the rarely told history of debutante culture from the perspective of African Americans who were historically excluded from the beauty standards of this European-born tradition.
Dawoud Bey: Street Portraits
WHEN: Thru May 11, 2025
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Street Portraits is the first standalone museum show to explore a transformational phase of the celebrated photographer and 2017 MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey's work. The show features 38 portraits he took between 1988 and 1991, when he collaborated with Black Americans of all ages whom he met on the streets of various American cities. He asked a cross-section of people in these communities to pose for him, creating a space of self-presentation and performance in their urban environments. Bey used a large format tripod-mounted camera and a unique positive/negative Polaroid film that created both an instant print and a reusable negative, and as part of every encounter, he gave each person a small black-and-white Polaroid print as a way of reciprocating and returning something to the people who allowed him to make their portrait.
Arts of Africa Gallery
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Arts of Africa gallery showcases highlights from the museum’s collection, which encompasses about 800 objects, largely from the 19th and 20th centuries, across media—including painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and jewelry, as well as recent acquisitions of contemporary art. The updated presentation, spanning 2,300 square feet on level 4 of the Hamilton Building, offers a collection that illustrates the diversity, relevance, and dynamism of creativity and culture across Africa. The gallery presents an expansive and inclusive view of the arts from the African continent with works from the sub-Sahara, Egypt and North Africa organized around three anchoring themes: the self, power and transformation, and manifestation.
The Civil War Monument 'On Guard'
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Lonnie Bunch, the first African American and first historian to serve as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said, “what you really want to do is use the statues as teachable moments. Some of these need to go. But others need to be taken into a park, into a museum, into a warehouse, and interpreted for people, because they’re part of our history."
Buffalo Soldiers: reVision
WHERE: Fort Garland Museum, Ft. Garland
This unique exhibit at the intersection of history, place and art examines the complex legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers in the American West, tracing their history from slavery to service and highlighting the relations between ethnic, gender and racial identities in the landscape of the southern Colorado borderlands. The exhibit features the work of eight artists from across the United States, including Chip Thomas (lead artist), Esther Belin, Mahogany L. Browne, Rosie Carter, Gaia, André Leon Gray, Theodore Harris and Tom Judd.
Black History Month Public Art Tour
WHERE: Various locations throughout Denver
Embark on a self-guided tour of public art by Black artists and works celebrating Black history. You’ll find art in many different forms, including colorful murals, sculptures, abstract paintings and mosaics—many by local artists. These works celebrate Black History in Denver, Colorado and the West.
Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Events
Colorado Black Arts Festival
WHEN: TBA 2025
WHERE: City Park
Colorado Black Arts Festival proudly presents its 38th annual celebration of African American art and culture. Enjoy a Colorado experience like no other in historic Denver City Park West.
Juneteenth Music Festival
WHEN: TBA 2025
WHERE: Five Points
One of the nation’s largest Juneteenth celebrations, look for a parade, live performances, art, vendors and fun for the entire family.
Ways to Celebrate Year-Round
The Black American West Museum & Heritage Center (former home of Denver's first African American female physician, Justina Ford) celebrates Black history year-round! The museum is open for limited, scheduled slots. If you are interested in visiting the museum, please sign up here. Check their website at bawmhc.org for both virtual and in-person events as they are announced.
And the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library serves as a neighborhood branch, a research library and museum in the Five Points neighborhood. It preserves and showcases the many contributions of African Americans to Colorado and the American West. Tours and programming for adults and families are available.
Historical Spotlight: Barney Ford, Pioneering Hotelier and Restauranteur
Barney Ford
Barney Ford has one of the most remarkable stories of anyone who has ever been in Colorado’s hospitality industry. He was posthumously inducted into the Denver & Colorado Travel Industry Hall of Fame.
Photo credit: Denver Firefighters Museum