Mystery Solved

By Cara DeGette

Last month marked a pretty cool anniversary for Park Hill. It was 50 years ago that Martin Luther King, Jr. spent three days in Denver, much of it in Park Hill, a neighborhood with a national reputation for its purposeful efforts to integrate. When he arrived in 1964, King had just turned 35, yet he had already established himself as a determined, eloquent force for civil rights. His travels to Denver came just months after the remarkable Aug. 28, 1963 March on Washington for jobs and freedom, during which he delivered his now famous “I have a Dream” speech.

When King came to town, he was paving the road for the national Civil Rights Act, which was signed into law on July 2 that year. The landmark legislation outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and gender. Later in 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Four years after his visit to Denver, King was struck down by an assassin’s bullet. He was only 39 years old. In retrospect, the civil rights leader didn’t really get a chance to visit many places – making his visit here that much more poignant.

We were able to reconstruct the highlights of his visit, and the powerful messages he conveyed, by going back to newspaper accounts from 50 years ago. Thanks to the Denver Public Library and with help from its Western History and Genealogy department, we located multiple photographs from that time to reproduce in the newspaper. In many of the photos, like the one above, King was standing with or seated next to people whose identities were simply marked “unknown” in the archives.

One savvy GPHN reader, of course, recognized the man in the photo with King as the Rev. M.C. Williams of New Hope Baptist Church. We are delighted to properly identify Williams here.

This month marks my second as your newspaper editor. Some of you know me as a longtime Colorado-based newshound with a passion for justice, and for good storytelling. At the helm of the Greater Park Hill News, I look forward to building on a legacy of excellence established by my most excellent predecessor, Erin Vanderberg.

Like Erin, I welcome your suggestions, submissions and contributions. Feel free to send news and story tips, tidbits, listings and announcements my way, at editor@greaterparkhill.org. Write letters to the editor if you are inspired. And yes, if you see something that requires a correction or clarification – or identification – let me know.

And, thanks for letting me be your editor.

Finally, I have an important request to convey from our neighbor, Coco Hudson. Last month Coco sent the following note, short and to the point:

“Would you be so kind as to remind residents, in the next issue of the paper, to shovel their sidewalks? It is unbelievable to me how many people haven’t done so and now the sidewalks are slick.”

Consider it done, Coco.

Cara DeGette is the editor of the Greater Park Hill News. 

Correction: The GPHC food pantry welcomes and accepts all donations, including fresh vegetables. An article in last month’s newspaper suggested otherwise, and we regret the error.