Library to Host Civil War Exhibit and Living History Event

Civil War 150 flyer

A Civil War living history event will take place on campus on from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Jan. 14 that will feature participants from New Mexico and Colorado. Members of different Civil War units from around the area will portray soldiers representing artillery, cavalry and infantry units, as well as civilians of the period. Camps, weapons displays, musical performances, blacksmithing, and talks by various living historians in period dress all will focus on the Civil War, especially as it unfolded in the Southwest. Presentations will occur both inside and outside the library, depending on the weather.

In addition, the Library will host a traveling exhibit that traces the major events of the Civil War through the letters, personal accounts, and photographs of soldiers, families, and presidents. The free exhibit will be on display in the Library and Academic Resources Center (LARC) lobby from Jan. 12-Feb. 2.

Civil War 150 is a national traveling panel exhibition organized by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with The Library of America. The project, Civil War 150: Exploring the War and Its Meaning through the Words of Those Who Lived It, has been made possible in part through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

 

CSU-PUEBLO TO CO-HOST REMEMBRANCE OF LOS SEIS DE BOULDER

MAY 28th, Rawlings Library, Ryals Rm, 7 pm.

Los Seis de Boulder mural

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the deaths of Los Seis de Boulder (The Boulder Six), a seminal event for the Colorado Chicano Movement, Colorado State University-Pueblo and the Pueblo City-County Library District, along with organizers from Symbols of Resistance, will sponsor a presentation and roundtable discussion entitled, “Pueblo Chicano Activists Remember Los Seis.” The event will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28 in the Ryals Room at the Rawlings Library, 100 E. Abriendo Ave.

The event will begin with a Chautauqua-style presentation by Symbols of Resistance, which will give brief biographies of Los Seis, followed by a roundtable discussion with Chicano activists remembering Los Seis, and reflecting on how it informed Colorado Chicano activism over the next 40 years, both in Pueblo and around the state. Facilitated by Rita Martinez, the discussion will feature Carmen Arteaga, Juan and Deborah Espinosa, Freddie ‘Freak’ Trujillo and Jose Esteban Ortega, some of whom were attending CU-Boulder at the time of the killings.

On May 27, 1974, three activists, two women and one man, were killed in a car bomb at Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado. Two days later, three more Chicano activists were killed in a second car bombing in Boulder. The victims were Chicano activists heavily involved in the protests that were happening at the time: Neva Romero, 21, CU-Boulder student, UMAS (United Mexican American Students) leader, student senator; Una Jaakola, 24, CU-Boulder student, worked with youth in Denver; Reyes Martinez, 26, attorney, handled the cases of the poor while working out of his car; Francisco Dougherty, 22, active in teatro (Chicano theater), organized voters in Texas; Florencio Granado, 32, former UMAS president, La Raza Unida candidate for CU Regent, published “El Escritor del Pueblo (The Writer of the People)”; and Heriberto Teran, 24, former UMAS student leader and an accomplished poet and artist. The six who died became known as “Los Seis de Boulder.”

Hundreds of people participated in the mournful ceremonies which included marches to both bombing sites. Their deaths shocked the state with the news making its way throughout the Southwest, Mexico, and other countries. Mystery surrounds the case to this day, and no group ever claimed responsibility for the bombings. No official explanation was ever provided by police, saying they believed the victims were arming the bombs. A federal grand jury was convened, but its findings were not made public, and no person was indicted.

An exhibit of materials about Los Seis de Boulder from CSU-Pueblo’s Colorado Chicano Movement Archives will be featured as part of the event.

For more information about Los Seis, as well as the May 31st commemoration in Denver, visit the Symbols of Resistance website http://symbolsofresistance.org/

Dave Showalter, Award Winning Nature and Conservation Photographer

will be showing a sampling of his stunning photography, featuring the grasslands of  Colorado and the efforts to conserve their history and future on Thursday, October 25th at 7pm in LARC 109. Please join us.

 

“Making Cuban Stars: How Alex Pompez Changed the Face of Baseball”

Is the title of the presentation by Dr. Adrian Burgos at 7pm on Thursday March 1st in the OUC Ballroom.

Dr. Burgos is the author of “Cuban Star: How One Negro League Owner Changed the Face of Baseball”. “A proud and boisterous Negro League team owner, Alex Pompez rose to prominence during Latino baseball’s earliest glory days. As a passionate and steadfast advocate for Latino players, he helped bring baseball into the modern age. But like many in the era of segregated baseball, Pompez also found that the game alone could never make all ends meet, and he delved headlong into the seedier side of the sport—gambling—to help finance his beloved team, the New York Cubans. He built one of the most infamous numbers rackets in Harlem, rubbing shoulders with titans of the underworld such as Dutch Schultz and eventually arousing the ire of the famed prosecutor Thomas Dewey. He also brought the Cubans, with their incredible lineup of international players, to a Negro League World Series Championship in 1947.

Pompez presided over the twilight of the Negro League, holding it together as long as possible in the face of integration even as he helped his players make the transition to the majors. In his later days as a scout, he championed some of the brightest future Latino stars and became one of Latin America’s most vocal advocates for the game.

That today’s rosters are filled with names like Rodriguez, Pujols, Rivera, and Ortiz is a testament to the influence of Pompez and his contemporaries.”