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The Once and Future Hope of Dearfield: Colorado’s African American Colony in the Early 20th Century
March 15
Boulder businessman O.T. Jackson founded the African American farm colony of Dearfield in 1910. Black homesteaders were able to realize their dream of owning land and building their own community.
Boulder businessman O.T. Jackson founded the African American farm colony of Dearfield in 1910. Black homesteaders were able to realize their dream of owning land and building their own community. The colony grew and thrived through World War I, but hard times for farming in the late 1920s caused it to fade away. Dearfield’s story is now emerging from the shadows of history through the decade-long Dearfield Dream Project, an integrated research and historic site preservation initiative. This talk examines the past, present, and future of Dearfield and its historical relationship with other Black homesteader communities from 1877 through the early 20th Century.
Bob Brunswig, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus and University Research Fellow at the University of Northern Colorado and a professional archaeologist. He directs site preservation and field archaeology programs at the African American historic townsite of Dearfield in southeastern Weld County.
George H. Junne, Jr., Ph.D. is Professor and Coordinator of Africana Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. He has written on the African American town of Dearfield, Colorado, and Ottoman African eunuchs.
Richard Edwards, Ph.D. is director emeritus of the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska. His work preserves and tells the epic story of the settlement of the Great Plains so that future generations may know and appreciate what its peoples dreamed, suffered, and accomplished.
