Deadliest day in Colorado history commemorated with opening of historical exhibition
It's known as the deadliest day in Colorado's history. It's a memory that rips at the heartstrings of Waylon Rogers and his family, who are Cheyenne and traveled all the way from Montana, just to be present for the opening of the Sand Creek Massacre exhibition on Saturday at History Colorado.
"You really need to watch the movies over there, those are some of the hardest things, I cried. It never gets any easier," said Rogers, who was part of the council who helped curate the exhibition. "Everything we talked about in our meetings are here in these rooms. It's all very accurate. When we lost this land, we lost our people at the same time."
The exhibit recounts when U.S. troops brutally attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people who were promised military protection. It's a project that's been in the making for ten years with indigenous voices at the forefront.
"This is family history, for our tribes and they have preserved these stories through tribal accounts through oral histories, this is really cutting-edge scholarship about the Sand Creek Massacre," said Jason Hanson, the chief creative officer at History Colorado. "It is what people ought to know. The tribes have kept these stories and they are generously now sharing them with History Colorado and with all of our visitors."
The massacre left more than 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho relatives dead and sharing their stories and history is vital.
"It's important that people walk away understanding that the Cheyenne and Arapaho had a vibrant, thriving culture… cultures, before the massacre and they still do today," Hanson said.
For Rogers, he wants visitors to remember the trauma his family experienced so that history doesn't repeat itself.
"I think it's a great testament to the people who lost their lives there," he said.
For more information on the exhibition visit: https://www.historycolorado.org/exhibit/sand-creek-massacre-betrayal-changed-cheyenne-and-arapaho-people-forever