Intolerance in Colorado: An attack on Regis University

Keeping with the theme of intolerance in Colorado, I include the picture to the right. It is of a plaque on the west wall of Regis

University along Lowell Blvd. in Denver Colorado. Regis is a Jesuit run university. When the Jesuits relocated their school from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Morrison, Colorado, and finally to Denver in the 1880s, it had the very Catholic sounding name of Sacred Heart. In the mid-1920s some bigots in white sheets showed up at the gates of Sacred Heart, but the students amply defended themselves and their school. Fearing a recurrence of violence, the Jesuit fathers thought it might be a good idea in the anti-Catholic environment of the 1920s to change the name of the school to something a little less obvious. Thus they re-named their school Regis, after a 17th century French Jesuit named John Francis Regis who was canonized in 1737. Renaming the school to Regis was a wise move that allowed the Jesuits to retain their heritage and dodge the bigots who knew only the most obvious signs of Catholicism. The plaque reads, "This portion of the old permitter wall has been preserved in remembrance of a student stand against the Ku Klux Klan. In the mid-1920s, according to Jesuits here at the time, word filtered to the priests that the KKK was planning a march on Regis [Sacred Heart] with the intent to burn a cross on the lawn. The jesuits put out a call to students -both boarders and day students- to protect the campus and bring baseball bats. The call was heeded and Regis [Sacred Heart] students were posted ever five feet armed with bats. The KKK, which was organizing a few blocks from campus, received word of the student buildup and disbanded without marching on the campus. Later, the Jesuits found that some of the students were armed with more than baseball bats. Some had brought along pistols."

Colorado History Museum Review

This Saturday I made my way to the brand new Denver History Museum. The exhibits included displays on 1920s small town life in Keota, Bent Fort in the 1830s-1850s, the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, the Japanese Internment Camps of World War II, the Silverton Mine, Olympics, and a summer vacation resort in the mountains for African Americans. The focus is largely on biography, particularly learning about common people. In the Keota exhibit, for example, the visitor learns of the lives of those who actually lived in the town, from the school teacher who returned to the small town after college to the store keeper whose business formed the hub of the town (it was also the post office and lending library). There are numerous artifacts from these individuals and others. At Sand Creek, we learn the

event through the experiences of the individuals, from both Cheyenne Indians and white soldiers. Most exhibits contain an interactive display. There is a country store (great for children) and antique car driving experience in Keota. The entrance to the Silverton Mine replicates an elevator ride down the 500 foot shaft. And there is a ski jump simulator in the Olympic section. This and the Keota car were popular items. The Fort Bent section contained a computer game/simulation. Well done video presentations are another feature of the exhibits. These films contain a good mix of historical context and footage with personal experiences. The African-American vacation camp in the Rocky Mountains demonstrated the value, and rarity, of being able to escape segregation and prejudice in American cities. The video for the Japanese internment was particularly powerful. I was stunned, even as a historian with knowledge of this deplorable incident from our nation’s past, by how the news reels depicted this to the American peoples. No attempt was made to obscure the fact that only a handful of all those of Japanese descent living in American might be disloyal, but the government rounded them all up any way. One talking head boldly and proudly declared, “This is how a democracy handles its problems.” Really !?! They made it sound like a free trip to a vacation resort. One Japanese internee sold his $100,000 business for $5,000 and another young man noticed on arrival that the machine

guns they were told would protect them from mob violence were pointed inside the camp and not outside. The Japanese internment camp exhibit was chilling. So was the KKK uniform on the second floor. I just turned the corner and there it was. I think Americans in general do not understand how prevalent the KKK was in the north in the 1920s. Sometime in the 1980s the Freeport, NY (a coastal Long Island town with a large African American population) fire department was cleaning out its trophy case and found one from the 1920s presented by the KKK. It was a shocking find, but another reminder of the KKK’s popularity in the north during the “Roaring Twenties.” All and all, I think the museum gives Coloradans a well crafted view of several moments of their state’s past. If I had one complaint, it would be that there was not much celebration of the better parts of our past. Like all societies, Americans have had regrettable incidents. It is impossible to overlook the original sin of slavery and the recurrent issue of race. Nor, can one deny the brutal treatment of Native Americans. Yet, the American, and dare I say Coloradan, experience possesses positive virtues that need to be remembered as well.