WINDSOR — One of the most horrific events in Colorado history — the Sand Creek Massacre — will be examined Sunday at the Denver Public Library with the help of a Windsor sculptor.
Craig Bergsgaard says his 2010 bronze sculpture — Memorare Sand Creek 1864 — was the impetus for Sunday’s event which will bring together several experts to discuss the implications of the massacre in Colorado and the American West today.
“My bronze about Sand Creek was added to the permanent collection of the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia,” said Bergsgaard. “We had a small panel discussion in Georgia to accompany the sculpture’s unveiling and had interested guests from several states attend.”
“The whole time, I kept thinking,” Bergsgaard said, ” ‘Why aren’t we having this conversation in Colorado, where it belongs?'”
Bergsgaard said he approached Jim Kroll, manager of Western History and Genealogy at the Denver Public Library and suggested the discussion.
“We cannot undo the sins of the past,” Kroll said. “But hopefully, we can learn something to make us better people today.”
Historians say that on Nov. 29, 1864, on the banks of the Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado, a 700-man militia raided a Cheyenne and Arapaho settlement, slaughtering and mutilating the inhabitants, most of whom were women, children and elders.
Bergsgaard said the panelists will not be interested so much in pointing fingers at the reasons why the massacre took place but rather what Colorado learned from the tragedy.
The scheduled panelists are:
*Rose Fredrick, curator and art consultant.
*Col. Ronald G. Machoian, director of International Programs and Assistant Professor of Military & Strategic Studies, U.S. Air Force Academy.
*Glenn Morris, Director, Fourth World Center for the Study of Indigenous Law and Politics at CU-Denver.
*Tom Noel, Professor of History and Director of Public History, Preservations and Colorado Studies at University of Colorado- Denver.
*George E. “Tink” Tinker, Clifford Baldridge Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions, Iliff School of Theology.
Moderator of the panel will be J. Wendel Cox, Senior Special Collection Librarian, Western History and Geneology.
The Denver Public Library is located at 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway from 2-4:45 p.m. Sunday. Seating begins at 1:45 p.m.
Admission is free. For more information, contact Amy Steeby at 602-510-3662 or at info@craigbergsgaard.com.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
