Grand Junction (Colo.) -- History
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Shannon Robinson talks about attending grade school in Gunnison, Colorado, where she was largely shunned or bullied by white students as the first African-American student to attend her elementary school. She speaks about living in Aurora, Colorado, where she made friends with other Black children, but also experienced bullying from children of all ethnic backgrounds because of her mixed race. She discusses getting to know other members of her African...
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Compound
Fritz Becker, a former officer in the Grand Junction Police Department, discusses crime in Grand Junction, including: murders, the clean-up of prostitution and vice on Colorado Avenue, gambling houses and bootlegging. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
Janielle Westermire talks about growing up in Grand Junction, Colorado, where her father ministered at the Handy Chapel. She speaks about feeling she lived in a safe, close knit community, but also about racism she experienced as a child. She describes the inspiring life of her father, Harry Butler, who worked in hydrology with the Bureau of Reclamation before becoming the first African-American school board member in Mesa County and the first African-American...
Format:
Voice Recording
David Combs talks about the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police, the ethnic makeup of Minneapolis (where Mr. Combs grew up), and the history of policing and police brutality there. He discusses the worldwide movement for social justice that grew from protests against Floyd’s killing, the response to Floyd’s killing in Grand Junction, Colorado, and the protest movement that took shape here. He addresses differences within the local African-American...
Format:
Compound
Dave Fishell, Karl Johnson, and James Carter discuss the history of law enforcement in Mesa County in a panel discussion sponsored by the Mesa County Historical Society. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Pdf
In the May-June 2023 newsletter of the Mesa County Historical Society, Ruth G. Moss discusses early sheriffs in Mesa County and early marshals in Grand Junction. She talks about jail breaks, cattle rustling, shootings on the range, prostitution, vice, and the murder of popular gambling parlor owner J.W. “Big Kid” Eames.
