The Transcontinental railroad being created in North America was one of the most important events in American history. By the 1860’s, investment once again came into the Denver area. Yet, transportation became a greater concern. It was expensive back then to transport goods to and from Denver. So, people wanted railroads to come into Denver as a means to make transporting goods less expensive. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act. This caused Coloradans to be excited at the prospect of the railroad crossing the Rockies Mountains through Colorado despite the dismal surveys by John C. Fremont and John William Gunnison. The Union Pacific Railroad choose to go north through Cheyenne, Wyoming. Back then, people thought it would cause Cheyenne to blossom into the major population center of the region. Thomas Durant was the vice president of the Union. He was wrong to assume that Denver was “too dead to bury.” Colorado Territorial Governor John Evens said that “Colorado without railroads is comparatively worthless.” Later, Evans came together with other local business leaders and they partnered with East Coast investors. They formed a railroad company that would link Denver and the Colorado Territory with the national rail network. The company was incorporated on November 19, 1867 as the “Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company.” There was a sense of urgency, because there was a rival company called the Colorado, Clear Creek and Pacific Railway (later the Colorado Central Railroad), by W.A.H. Loveland and citizens of nearby Golden. This rival company wanted to link the city of Golden directly with Cheyenne in trying to make Golden the natural hub of the territory. That is why within several days; the company sold $300,000 in stock, but was unable to raise further funds to begin construction. The efforts seemed to be on the brink of failure when Evans was able to persuade Congress to grant the company 900,000 acres (3,600 km2) of land on the condition that the company build a line connecting the Union Pacific line in Wyoming with the existing Kansas Pacific line, which then extended only as far west as central Kansas. Evans’ company wanted to beat the Golden investors. The company that Evans supported broke ground on its Cheyenne line on May 18, 1868. It was finished in 2 years. The first train from Cheyenne arrived in Denver on June 24, 1870. Two months later, in August 1870, the Kansas Pacific completed its line to Denver and the first train arrived from Kansas. With the completion of the Kansas Pacific line to Denver, the Denver Pacific became integral to the first transcontinental rail link between the east and west coasts of America. While the Union Pacific line had been declared finished in 1869 with the Golden spike event in Utah, linking it with the Central Pacific Railroad, passengers were required to disembark the train and cross the Missouri River at Omaha by boat. With the completion of the Denver Pacific line, it was finally possible to embark a train on the east coast and disembark on the west coast. The Denver Pacific’s rival (or the Colorado Central line from Golden) was not finished until 1877. By 1877, Denver established supremacy over its rival. Denver became the population center and capital city of the newly admitted State of Colorado. The railroad in Denver brought residents, tourists, and much needed supplies. In the 1870's, it is estimated that the railroad brought 100 new residents to Denver each day. Population statistics bear this out, for Denver's population soared from 4,759 in 1870 to over 35,000 by 1880. In addition to bringing new residents, it put Denver on the map as a tourist destination and brought 1,067 visitors in its first month of operation. That first month also brought 13,000,000 pounds (5,900,000 kg) of freight. Denver now had the people and supplies it needed to flourish and solidify its dominance in the region.
Denver in the 21st century has gone through a lot of changes. By the year of 2001, the First Look Film Festival began and the Mizuna restaurant was in business there too. Denver has experienced a lot of growth. There are many transporation projects in Denver too. T-REX was completed in November 2006, which was 22 months ahead of schedule. T-REX transportation system has been very successful in Denver. This has led to public support for the FastTrack’s expansion project in 2004. These projects helped to alleviate some of the worst traffic congestion in the Denver metro area. Projects are growing. Through the late 1990's the majority of Denver's economy was concentrated in a few key sectors: energy, government and the military, technology, and agriculture. In 2005, Denver has legalized marijuana. Over the next decade Denver and Colorado attracted new industries and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) says the state now has 14 core industries including health care, financial services and tourism. This diversification of the economy helped cushion the city and state from the global recession of 2008-2010. The fact that Denver's tax base is made up mostly of sales and income tax meant that it felt the economic downturn faster than others, but this meant it also recovered more quickly, helping Denver weather the recession better than many other U.S. cities reliant mainly on property taxes. In 2008, Denver hosted the democratic National Convention where Barack Obama gave his historic speech to accept the nomination of Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. Barack Obama would later become the first African American President and win 2 terms. In 2012, the Denver Comic con begins. A Comic Con is when comic book fans and science fiction fans unite to celebrate comic books and science fiction culture. There is also celebrations and many people there where costumes. Businessman John Hickenlooper was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote. After he was elected governor of Colorado in 2011, Michael Hancock was elected Denver's second African American mayor.
Living legends are abundant in the world. Isabel Wilkerson is a woman who is a living legend in terms of her exciting literature and her other magnificent accomplishments. She was born in Washington, D.C. and her love of writing persisted for decades. Today, she is not just an author. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. She has taught at various universities in dealing with journalism. She is famous for writing the book “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.” Sometimes, things happen for a reason. Before I wrote about her, I just today studied more about African American history and the various Great Migrations that occurred. These Great Migrations shaped our history as African Americans in many ways from economics, to the spreading of culture, and in other effects. The 2 major migrations of black people in America happened from 1915 to the 1970’s. It involved African Americans leaving the Southern states (in many of our forebears desired to escape lynching, racism, economic oppression, and other racial injustices) and they traveled into the North, the Midwest, and the West Coast.
The Great Migrations influenced the Harlem Renaissance and the Chicago Renaissance of the 20th century. Ironically enough, recently, many African Americans are traveling from the North to the South because many black Americans are seeking economic opportunities, etc. That is why I live in Virginia, but I know people from New Jersey and New York who live in Virginia after their migrations from the North. She wrote about 1993 Midwestern floods. She has won many awards like the George S. Polk Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists (in 1994). She was born in 1961. Isabel Wilkerson lives in Atlanta today. We respect her gifts and her work has inspired others to write prose eloquently, to analyze information critically, and to evaluate the important issues of our time succinctly. At the end of the day, we believe reaching others, focusing on the prize, and adhering to the principles of our ancestors. Benevolence and generosity make everything worthwhile.
Bless Sister Isabel Wilkerson.
We certainly live in a new generation. The groups from Hands Up Coalition to Black Lives Matter have made many people to recognize the serious problems of police brutality, racism, economic injustice, sexism, and other evils in the world. We desire justice and accountability. The Washington Post reports that police officers are safer under the Obama Administration than they have been over the last three-plus decades. The paper found that: “Under Obama, the average number of police intentionally killed each year has fallen to its lowest level yet—an average of 62 deaths annually through 2015. If you include the 2016 police officer shootings year-to-date and project it out to a full year that average of 62 deaths doesn’t change.” While, there is an epidemic of Americans being killed by the police (a disproportionate amount of people being killed are black people). Quess Moore wants the statue of the racist Andrew Jackson to come down, which is great. Quess also received death threats, but he is continuing onward in his cause. Sisters like Bree Newsome, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, etc. are doing inspirational, great work as well. Society can only change when structures of injustice are gone and investments to build communities and other progressive actions are taken. Black human lives matter. The current system doesn’t work comprehensively to help the masses of the people, so a better system must be instituted in its place. Various movements are diverse. Some work in the grassroots communities of America and in the world. Some work in the courtroom. Some work in various causes. Yet, all of these groups want the same goal, which is the liberation of black people. Groups like the Advancement Project, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, Black Youth Project 100, Blackout for Human Rights, and tons of other organizations are doing great work daily in making sure that our voices are heard (and that it shows that we are fighting in this struggle for our freedom). Therefore, the younger generation isn’t in the shadows. They exist today to call for justice just like the older generation is fighting the good fight too. Black activism is global.
The Afro-Dutch include people who have ties to the areas of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Sint Maarten, and Suriname. Many people don’t know that the Netherlands had great involvement in the evil slave trade. The Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company was involved in massive economic exploitation of black African human beings. Black people were in the Netherlands in the 1500’s. Dutchmen brought their slaves to the Netherlands from Dutch Brazil, Suriname, Netherland Antilles, and Aruba. Slavery is evil, brutal, and has no place in the world. Suriname got their independence from the Netherlands over 35 years ago. Today, Afro-Dutch human beings live in the Netherlands and throughout the world. There is a far right movement in the Netherlands that promote hatred and bigotry, but Afro-Dutch heroes have fought against these evils folks. Many people in the Netherlands refuse to discuss about race in serious terms since some want to promote the post-racial myth. A lot of the Afro-Dutch came from Suriname. They live in South Holland, North Holland, Flevoland, Utrecht, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba, and other urban areas. Many of them speak Dutch, which is a cousin language to English and German. There are many activists who are Afro-Dutch too. One is Quinsy Gario. He was born in 1984 and he opposes Zwarte Piet. Zwearte Piet is a character that many white Dutch people use in blackface which represents a character in the Santa Claus myth. Zwarte Piet means Black Peter. Zwarte Piet is blatantly racist and protests have existed against it. Gario created the project Zwarte Piet is Racisme (Black Pete is Racism) about Zwarte Piet. There are also the great Black Heritage Amsterdam Tours (BHAT) that allows people (especially those of Black African descent) to have a tour of the contributions of the African Diaspora in the Netherlands from the 16th century to the present. People on these tours experience exhibitions, festivals, and a lot of education of real history plus real culture. The tour begins in Amsterdam’s central Dam Square. The tour leader and founder of the tour is the great Sister Jennifer Tosch. Tosch said that even some Dutch families today blatantly lie about their forefather’s involvement in slavery. Many places in the Netherlands traded in slaves in canal houses. Bless the Afro Dutch people.
By Timothy
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