In late 1864, Territorial Governor John Evans and Colonel John Chivington, both ardent Methodists, founded the Denver Seminary, the forerunner of the University of Denver. Just a few weeks later Chivington led his volunteers on a raid of a peaceful camp of Arapaho and Cheyenne on Sand Creek; an estimated 200 people were killed, most of them women, children and elderly men. In 2013, in advance of DU's 150th anniversary, the university launched an investigation into Evans's role in the Sand Creek Massacre; the report of the John Evans Committee, released last summer, charged Evans with creating the climate that made the massacre possible.
And the university didn't stop its study with the report's release. DU's Conflict Resolution Institute, the Center on Rights Development and the John Evans Study Committee worked together to create the "Symposium on Sand Creek Massacre: Acknowledgement and Repair, "which will take place all day TODAY at DU’s historic Margery Reed Hall in the renovated Reiman Theater.
The entire program is free; here's the lineup:
Symposium on Sand Creek Massacre: Acknowledgement and RepairA reception will follow at 5 p.m.; find complete information here.
9 a.m.: DU John Evans Commission Study
with members of the commission
10:45 p.m.: Possibilities of Repair: Truth Commissions, Reparations and Cultural Restoration
with Henry Little Bird, Andrew Reid, George "Tink" Tinker and Billy J. Stratton
1:30 p.m.: Public Recognition and Acknowledgement
with Ernest House Jr., head of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs; DU Chancellor Rebecca Chopp; Methodist Bishop Elaine Stanovsky and Iliff President Thomas Wolfe
3:15: Learning and Healing: Continuing the Conversation
with descendants of John Evans and Arapaho and Cheyenne tribal members.
