We’re kicking off Black History Month a few days early. Throughout the month of February, we’ll be using each Day in Denver History segment to spotlight a Black Denverite who has helped shape our city. First up, Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones.
Truly a trailblazer, Lucile was the first Black graduate of the University of Northern Colorado and the first female Black graduate of CU Boulder. But at the time of her graduation in 1918, she wasn’t even allowed to walk with her classmates across the Macky Auditorium stage to accept her degree. In fact, her story only came into public consciousness nearly a hundred years later when Polly McLean (pictured above), a CU Boulder associate professor of media studies, started digging around to find out more.
Born in 1884 in Denver to emancipated, formerly enslaved parents Sarah and James Buchanan, Lucile grew up in the Barnum neighborhood. Remarkably rare for their time, the Buchanans owned land in Denver, sent their daughters to college, and father James was even elected as street commissioner, a position which he served in for many years. McClean’s book, Remembering Lucile, chronicles the life of a monumental Denver family whose story was almost lost to time.
Special thanks to the Denver Post and History Colorado for background information.
