‘Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History: Aurora’ exhibit opens at the Aurora History Museum today, July 14

The Aurora History Museum in partnership with the Museum of Boulder will open a new exhibition, "Proclaiming Colorado's Black History: Aurora," Tuesday, July 14, at the Aurora History Museum, 15051 E. Alameda Parkway. The exhibit will run until Nov. 7, 2026.

The new exhibit is an adaptation of the award-winning Museum of Boulder's "Proclaiming Colorado's Black History" (2023 - 2025). The traveling components focus on statewide history, with the new additions highlighting several of Aurora's community leaders, educators, musicians, culinary artists and other local figures. The exhibition is composed of wall panels depicting stories and photographs about people, places and events that provide insights about local and state Black American experience.

"The goal of this project has been to work collaboratively to preserve Colorado's rich and complex Black histories, sharing them broadly and integrating their stories and broadening our understanding of Colorado," said Aurora History Museum Director T. Scott Williams. Guided by its mission to engage the community and celebrate local heritage, the Aurora History Museum shares the stories of Black Aurorans that have long shaped the city. Presented is a comprehensive, but not complete, look at the African American experience in Colorado.

"There is no single Black experience in Aurora," said Christopher Shackelford, the museum's exhibits curator. "By the 21st century, Aurora's Black community reflected a growing range of cultures, languages and life experiences. Some Black Aurorans trace their family histories through generations of American history, from slavery and Reconstruction to the Great Migration and the Civil Rights Movement. Others arrived more recently from all around the world. Together, these experiences continue to expand and enrich what it means to be Black in Aurora."

The Aurora History Museum hopes this exhibition fosters dialogue and engagement with the broader community. The museum plans to expand the exhibit as more stories are collected and to reopen it as an oral history and artifact-based exhibit in the summer of 2027. Public input will be available in the near future both online and at the museum.

Learn more about this exhibit and program updates at AuroraMuseum.org.

About the Aurora History Museum

The Aurora History Museum opened in 1979. In 1990, it moved to its present location, reopened in 1991 and became a part of the city's Library and Cultural Services Department, the largest single provider of arts and culture programs in Aurora. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children ages 3 to 17. To stay up to date on related programming, call 303.739.6660 or visit AuroraMuseum.org.