February 7, 2024
First Black Man Born In Colorado Honored Posthumously
As part of the 2024 Juanita Gray Community Service Awards and the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Ceremony, the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in Colorado took the time to honor the man believed to be the first Black man born in Colorado.
As part of the 2024 Juanita Gray Community Service Awards and the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame Ceremony, the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in Colorado took the time to honor the man believed to be the first Black man born in the Western state.
On Feb. 3, William Whitsell was inducted into the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame. Though few pictures of Whitsell exist today, his legacy remains in his family and Central City, Colorado, an old mining town 35 miles outside Denver, where his descendants live.
In 2023, the City of Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department honored the state’s first Black state native by naming William H. Whitsell Park in his honor. Damon Jones, Whitsell’s great-great grandson, reflected on the legacy of his ancestor, telling Denver 7, “It lets me understand and just know that I’m standing on the shoulders of a great, great man. It probably didn’t even hit him like that even to know that he was the first Black male born in Colorado.”
According to Jones, the family traveled to Colorado to create their own opportunities, likely as part of the first Great Migration.
“For them to move to Colorado and to take refuge up into the mountains up into Gilpin County, where a lot of the work was at that time, it was a lot of mining and a lot of building,” said Jones. “It’s very impactful when you sit and think about it, and sit and think what he had to possibly go through— what they went through to even get here.”
Historians believe that Whitsell’s parents were most likely formerly enslaved people who came out West to help build the railroads in that part of the country. Eventually, the family moved to Denver and took up residence in the area where Union Station is presently located.
Cedric Buchanon, a member of the Library Commission, told Denver 7 why they chose to induct Whitsell into the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame.”
It’s the adventure of being that first individual born in Colorado—but then being here, growing up here, settling his roots, the family that has gone from generation to generation.”
Jones believes that Whitsell was a man of great courage and tenacity, which he likely got from his parents. Jones told CBS News, “They endured a lot. And to be a Black man back then — when our neighbors to the south were still fighting for our freedom — for him to be here and to be a part of the pioneers of how Colorado was going to be shaped? That alone just lets you know that you have to be a person with great tenacity to go through something like that. It’s because of people still digging at it that we are starting to get the recognition that he really deserves.”
