Colorful Coloradans Biographies

Biographies of important Coloradans featuring digitized sources from the Western History collection to provide young researchers with high quality, primary source material for their history projects. Ideal for 4th grade and up.

Lena Archuleta (1920 - 2011)

Denver's first Hispanic female school principal, Lena Archuleta was dedicated to improving life for all people, especially Hispanic Denverites.

Caroline Bancroft (1900 - 1985)

Historian, journalist, and philanthropist whose stories about Colorado history helped spark new interest in the state's past.

Studio portrait of Colorado State Senator (Las Animas County) Casimiro Barela. He wears a vest and jacket, a bow tie and an upright collar. He has a full, waxed mustache and his dark hair has a cowlick and is parted on the side.

Casimiro Barela (1847-1920)

Casimiro Barela was a long-serving senator in the Colorado legislature.

Portrait of George Bent, a mixed-blood who chose to live and fight as a Cheyenne warrior, with his wife Magpie. Bent wears a suit and moccasins, he has a moustache. Magpie wears a dress decorated with elk teeth, quillwork and fringe, and a hairpipe choker; her hair is in braids.

George Bent (1843 - 1918)

Cheyenne-American interpreter and historian who often found himself caught between his mother's Cheyenne world and his father's white American world.

Black Kettle (Oklahoma Historical Society)

Black Kettle (1807 - 1868)

Black Kettle was a chief of the Southern Cheyenne people. He fought for peace even as his people suffered brutality and death at the hands of the government.

Omar Blair (1918 - 2004)

Omar Blair served in the segregated U.S. military during World War II and returned to Denver where he joined the school board and worked to integrate Denver Public Schools.

Ralph Carr (1887-1950)

Governor of Colorado who served during WWII. He publicly opposed putting Japanese Americans into incarceration camps.

Liad “Lilly” Chittivej (1914 - 1976)

Lilly Chittivej immigrated from Thailand to start the first Thai restaurant in the United States.

Elizabeth Piper Ensley (1847 - 1919)

Elizabeth was born the child of a former slave and spent her life fighting for women's suffrage and the rights of African Americans.

Maude Fealy (1881-1971)

Actress, author, director and teacher known for her work in silent film and plays at the historic Elitch Theatre