Local officials discussed efforts of raising awareness of africanamericans. This took place at the annual conference in denver. Good afternoon and welcome. My name is aster liverman here in denver. It is my pleasure and honor to introduce our speaker for this session wholl present aspects beyond the green book african travel. Ranging from a personal colorado stories to sites across the country. To the far left, let me welcome our colorado native, gary jackson who grew up in denver before attending the university of redland and california, he earned his doctorate at boulder. He was assigned to the civil division, district of colorado before entering private practice in 1976. In 1982, he cofounded the firm of demana and jackson, a partnership that continues to the Denver County court bench of january of 2013. Gary has been recognized as a colorados super lawyer. Colorado Bar Association award of merit and among others. In 2018, the institute recognized gary for excellence county court judge of the year. The honorable judge jackson preside in the Denver County court. Next, i would like to introduce denise e. Gilmore, the senior director of the office of social justice and Racial Equity for the city of birmingham, alabama. Her work of the birmingham civil rights monument, the National Monument includes landmark such as the Baptist Church and 16th street Baptist Church. The National Park service in the city of birmingham have partnered in a major restoration. Her early career of the preservation focusing on a tool for revitalization, using tools to facilitate Historic Properties and redevelopment. She served as president and ceo of the Jazz District Redevelopment Corporation in kansas city, missouri and on the board of black archives. She earned her master degree from mississippi administratibu. She works with local state and federal entities as well as other interested parties to preserepr preserve and educate the public. I would like to turn it to judge jackson at this time. Welcome to colorado. As you can see in colorado, you can go from 20 degrees to 70 degrees in one day. So welcome to colorado. As indicated i have been a lawyer and a judge now for 49 years. I am a member of colorados historic family and thats what i would like to talk about. Our family called the Scott Jackson family have been in colorado since 1996. My great grandfather was apart of a great migration from the south to the north. He came from missouri to colorado in 1926 to visit a son who was in fifth semmon hospital. His son had been injured in world war i fighting the germans. That was the reason why his son was in the hospital. He eventually died in that hospital. William pi william pits was a carpenter by trade. Once he arrived in colorado, he decided to stay in colorado. My grate grandfather was a visionary. Upon reaching colorado, he decided to purchase several lots in the north cherry creek area which to those that are familiar with denver, it is now considered to be one of the most exclusive residential areas in colorado. Back in 1926, it was near the city dump. Because it was near city dump, poor families can be a lot cheap because it was next to the dump. My great grandfather bought three lots at that time. Being a visionary, he also bought several lots at Lincoln Hills. Well talk about Lincoln Hills in a minute. My great grandfather built three homes at cherry creek and several camps at Lincoln Hills. Lincoln hills was created by a development company, there were two men, there were some questions whether they were black or white. My great grandfather was very fair skin and that because of his fair complexion that enabled him to do certain things dark skin black people would not be able to do. As my proposition of the two developers who purchased the property in Lincoln Hills which was about 100 acres were more than likely too fair skin black men. They applaudplotted that territo about 600 lots that were eventually sold to black people across the nation, from new york to chicago. The lots were advertised and Lincoln Hills was advertised in magazine and such as ebony and jet. Thats how people found out about Lincoln Hills. What must be remembered back in the 1920s when this land was purchased and platted. The colorado was divided and segregated. This was the area where black people can buy mountain property. One of the reasons they were able to purchase this property was because the property had been by silver and mining. It was property that nobody wanewa wanted. The kkk had a big influence in denver. Lincoln hills was the only black owned Recreation Area west of mississippi. Lincoln hills like marthas vineyards, American Beach in florida were similar in their appeal. They were a second home to those black families who could afford to buy property. Lincoln hills was visited by black entertainer, such as lewis armstrong, lena horn, by writer such as Langston Hughes and political civil rights figure, whitney young. Whitney would come to Lincoln Hills on his way in aspen, colorado, to be involved in the think tank. The entertainers would come to entertain on five points and then they would come to Lincoln Hills to rest and recreate. They were not there to entertain but to rest and enjoy the colorado wilderness. Lincoln hills was supported by a number of black churches in the denver. Those black churches would gather on memorial day and 4th of july and labor day. Weeks pan orama which was a lode that was built of Lincoln Hills. It had six bedrooms. The resort had 17 cabins that were rented out between memorial day and labor day. You are probably asking the question why only between memorial day and labor day . Well, you saw the snow storm yesterd yesterday. Dirt roads going up in the mountains. Up in that area during the winter time, there could be three or four feet of snow. It is only operated during the summer months. During the summer months, as many as 5,000 visitors and guests would come to the resort. Lincoln hills along with the tavern and panorama were a monument and a testament to the in gener spirit of black americans. The builder of the lodge was a value citizen. During his tenure from 1926 to 1965, thats when he passed away, he not only operated the hotel but he was the Deputy Sheriff and a forest ranger and those were some of the responsibility as well as being an assistance postmaster. Lincoln hills was a part of the American Dream for black families. It was a recreational spot that was safe and secure. It existed in the county which welcome black families such as my family. Our cabin which i am going to start showing you some slides of. For us, our cabin is a symbol of the American Dream to my family. To my great grandfather, william pits, it was pitts, it was a shelter for hard time. For me and my extended family, it is a center for family gatherings and apart of our american success story. So at this point, what ill like to do is just to show you some slides of our cabin and the way it looks from 1926 to present day. So that slide right there is basically a slide of my great grandfather, family and relatives that were creating the foundation of our cabin. The second is a similar slide showing family and friends that were helping to build the cabin. Now, there it is. There is the cabin after it was built. It was probably about 300 square feet. You can see that the foundation of the cabin is basically river rock from the creek that passes in front of our cabin. Thats South Boulder creek. This is another view of the cabin. There are many Family Members in front of the cabin. There is the familys car that was driven from our north cherry creek home back in the 20s and 30s up to the cabin. There is another view of the cabin and at the top right hand corner was a photograph of my grandmother and grandfather. Thats a photograph of them. Look at the two cars, you think about back in those days because the road was gravelled. It took 2. 5 hours, three hours to get from denver up to the location. Three days ago trying to get in front of that winter storm. I drove toup to the cabin and tn off the water so the pipes were not through. There is our cabin. Thats a western view of it. There is my aunt. My aunt is frazier scott. She honey mooned at that cabin at 1964. That was a photograph of her in 1972 which shes wearing a big fro. Thats my aunt frazier. And there is another photograph, this is a photograph of teenage girls. My mother was apart of those teenage girls that went through a black, ywca camp in Lincoln Hills. My mother at 13 years of age diaried and she had a diary and she would write in her diary, she has been writing in this diary from the age of 12 to the age of shes now 94. Her diary, notes have been published in this manuscript that she wrote and selfpublished ten years ago. This is a manuscript of her precious memory. The next photograph, what i like about this next paragraph is the bottom photograph is a photograph of my brother and i at the age of five and four in 1950s. The top photograph is my great two nephews at five and four at 2016, playing in front. That photograph is a photograph of a plaquer that i obtained from the 2008 National Democratic convention when barack obama was named as the candidate for the democratic party. I took that placard up to our cabin and we displayed that placard every time we open up the cabin. That is my great nephew. You see how his arms are crossed . Wakanda from the black panther. Thats my little nephew. The next paragrahotograph is a photograph of the lodge. In front of that is a signage that was created by an eagle scout. Around that signage are four prominent friends of mine. The only black District Court judge in colorado. Another is a photograph of one of the founders of the James Mountain club. A Mountain Club of the people in denver, started in 1993 that wanted to come to the colorado wilderness, hike, fish and crosscountry and snow chute. The other individual is the chairman of the board of our black western museum. The next photograph once again is black people on a hike through the Roosevelt National forest which was right back of winx lodge. The important of that photograph is in open county and Lincoln Hills, we felt safe, we felt secure, and there were no danger to us in that particular county, that particular area and the leader of that hike is a black doctor, rashard booker, thats another photograph of our wylie daniel, u. S. Judge. That photograph is a photograph of black scholars. I am a member of the fraternity, it is a black professional fraternity. We provide scholarships for 43 black students. These are student that is are going to college across the nation. They are gathered together on robert Smith Mountain property in Lincoln Hills. Robert smith, the black billionaire that many of you heard about has a Mountain Home in Lincoln Hills. So, you have seen my cabin and now robert smith didnt have a cabin, he got a Mountain Home. That photograph, robert smith is right in the middle of that photograph with his Business Partner, matthew burquette. Hes the gentleman in the light green next to the other gentleman in the white outfit. Thats robert smith and matthew surrounded by our scholars. There is my granddaughter. You can see the joy that she has in coming to our cabin and that to me is just a part of whats important about our story. Then lastly, thats how the cabin looked last november during the snow storm. As you can see we proudly display the American Flag because that American Flag before us is letting people know that we are home and that you are welcome to come to our cabin. So thank you so much. [ applause ] thank you. It is a pleasure to be with you this afternoon to share the history, the inspiration and the aspiration. Again, as said in my introduction, i have the honor to serve the senior director of Racial Equity in the office of the mayor woodfin. I invite you to travel back in time with me, just to discover the full significance of the Ag Gaston Motel. The work that i am leading in birmingham in collaboration with stake holders and with the National Parks service is to preserve the Ag Gaston Motel but recognizing it is indeed a site of social justice and equality. The Ag Gaston Motel serves to preserve and confront a period of the United States history where racial terror was accepted and often imposed by the instrumentalities of the state. It helps us examine how the legacy of racial segregation permeates through society even today. As a site of conscious, the city of birmingham recognizes and embraces the power of place. The Ag Gaston Motel sits literally in the middle of sacred ground where the struggles for sifcivil rights t place in segregated birmingham. We envision the Ag Gaston Motel as a place of reflection, restoration and renewal. So, before we talk about the motel, who was this ag gaston . Who was he . We have to truly the significance of this man to understand the significance of the motel. He was born in alabama, july 4th, 1892. He had a tenth grade education. His father died when he was young. He was raised by his mother who was a domestic. Now some of you anyway not know what know may not know what it means. That means she cooks and cleans and wipes people homes. So a. G. Gaston served in world war i and when he came back he did what most people did that was being fuelled by the iron and steel mills. He went to work in the mining village. When he was working there, he noticed some things early on. First of all, his mother was a really good cook. She would prepare lunches for him and the guys he worked with they did not have a lunch so they would say i will pay you if i can buy your lunch off of you. So he caught on and he started saying if we can make some lunches, i can sell them and we can make money. So he started selling lunches to the men in the mines. And the other thing he noticed that on friday night when everybody want to go out and party, most of the guys had already squandered their wages, he did not squander his. He saved his. He decided he would loan these guys a dollar and they would pay 25 interest so he would get 1. 25 cents back. So from there he also then continued overtime that he recognized that a lot of the poor black people, in fact, mostly poor black people could not afford to bury their loved ones. There would be a collection box asking the people to come to the funeral to contribute so that these people can be buried. He decided that he was going to start a Burial Society and sell policies so people would be able to bury their loved ones with dignity. From there, he started an insurance company, a funeral home, a bank. He bought a office building, a radio station. His motto was find the need and fill it. If you can imagine that a. G. Gaston in the 1950s was a black millionaire. Think of that period of jim crow and segregation and he was able to find a need and sort things that the black community needed. So then we fast forward to the top picture was a postcard that was used in the 50s to advertise a. G. Gaston. In 1951, a. G. And his wife were in oxford, england. While he was there, he learned the sunday school class and National Baptist union was coming to birmingham. He knew that many people coming to birmingham, there would be no combinations for them. He decided right then in there that he was going to build a motel. He came back to birmingham and he traveled all throughout to look at different motels and at the time, the premier motel that you would want to model was a holid holiday inn. He determined that he was going to build a motel for black people that was going to rival the holiday inn. He talked to a lot of people and everybody was like oh, i think thats a good idea and everybody thought it was a good idea but guess what . Nobody would put up any money. And so he decided to go in it alone. He acquired the property at fifth avenue at 16th street north, he hired architects and Financial Advisors and all the people he needed on his team to build this motel. He built this lavish, state of the art hotel for 300,000. Remember that number. For 300,000, he built the a. G. Gaston motel. He built it because he determined black people not only in birmingham but traveling through the south deserves to have a first class place to stay. At that point as they work through this when the gaston opened, on july 1st, 1954, it had 32 airconditioned rooms. Fully airconditioned. It opened just in time for the Baptist Convention where of course 10,000 people came to birmingham, not all was accommodated. It was described as the finest motel of the south. The official grand opening was held and the entire community was invited to be apart of the celebration. It truly, truly was the pride of the black community. The gaston motel was created to have a place of dignit