Across generations and boom-and-bust cycles, the caretaker of a Denver cultural legacy has reached out to make a connection with the past — with the hope that it holds long into the future.
Dr. Renee Cousins King is a retired pediatrician and Five Points property owner whose family’s storied history in that neighborhood — Denver’s traditional center of African-American culture — has remained strong despite the loss of local and family ownership there in recent years.
“I’m a second-generation native and Denver is my home,” said King, 66, who attended medical school at the Mayo Clinic and completed the first two years of her residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore before returning to Colorado. “I only learned the story of Dr. Justina Ford as an adult, after I became a physician.”
Ford was Colorado’s first and only African-American woman doctor in the early 20th century. During her 50-year career she learned multiple languages to communicate with her immigrant patients, often went without payment, and delivered roughly 7,000 babies — all while navigating institutional and cultural racism and sexism.
King’s father, the late philanthropist and community leader Charles R. Cousins, was one of those babiesFord delivered. When he died in 2009, his daughter inherited his properties, which has given her an appreciation for the work her father did to support and develop Five Points over the decades (several buildings there still bear the family name, as does Charles R. Cousins Plaza, just outside the Blair-Caldwell African-American Research Library).
That’s why King decided to donate $100,000 to Five Points’ internationally acclaimed but underfunded Black American West Museum and Heritage Center. It happens to be located in Ford’s former medical practice and home, which was saved from demolition in 1983 and moved to 3091 California St., where it now houses artifacts of Colorado’s oft-forgotten black-pioneer past.
“The individuals who have worked as volunteers at the museum deserve a lot of credit for their commitment year after year and decade after decade,” King said. “What they’ve done in terms of time, energy and dedication is really phenomenal. But that house is about 130 years old. While it was well built, all houses have to have repairs.”
King hopes her $100,000 gift leads to matching donations and financial leverage for the nonprofit Black American West Museum, especially with the donation being announced at the start of Black History Month, which runs Feb. 1-28.
The timing is also personally meaningful to King, given that Jan. 31 marks the induction of not just her father but her grandfather (Charles L. Cousins) into the .
“My grandfather first came to Denver in 1909 and worked very hard on the railroad (as a Pullman porter for Union Pacific Railroad), and then on building houses and duplexes and purchasing property,” King said. “And through all of that, he was a philanthropist. When the depression came, he housed people even if they couldn’t afford it, and my father did a lot of the same things. Had I not had to do all the research on them after (my father) died, I wouldn’t see that thread that runs through us.”
Property management isn’t King’s passion, but it is a way to help the community by tangibly supporting residents who are having trouble putting roofs over their heads. That’s never been a small thing, but it’s even bigger in Five Points lately, where rapid development, gentrification and an affordable housing crisis have combined to leave low- and fixed-income residents there in perpetual danger of homelessness.
“You don’t have to be greedy,” said King, who works with her tenants at properties such as Alta Cousins Terrace (named after her grandmother) when they can’t afford their rent. “Just because somebody else is charging $2,300 a month for a one-bedroom doesn’t mean I have to.”
Five more ways to celebrate Black History Month
Jordan Casteel,a Harlem-based artist originally from Denver, is fast-rising name in the art world. Her first major solo exhibition,“Returning the Gaze,”runs Feb. 2-May 26 and “brings her back to Colorado with 30 recent works, showcasing her urban landscapes and boldly colorful portraits created from photos she takes in her New York City neighborhood,” according to freelance Denver Post. 100 W. 14th Ave. Admission: Free for 18 and under; $8-$13 general admission.
The long-runningCleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, which has garnered international attention and gigs for focusing on African diaspora and contemporary black dance, will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the D.L. Parsons Theatre,11801 Community Center Drive in Northglenn. Tickets: $8-$14.
Five Points’ Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library will host the annualJuanita Gray Community Service Awardsfrom 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 to help kick off Black History Month. This year’s nominees includeRose Andom,donnie l. betts,Rhonda Michelle Coleman,Erik Huffman,Daphne Rice-Allen,Brenton Weyi,Edna Williams andSydney Cross-Watts. Free. 2401 Welton St.
Actor and scholar Becky Stone will play poetMaya Angelou in a quartet of metro area presentationsFeb. 21-28 as part of Colorado Humanities’ Black History Live Tour. Locations includeBemis Public Library in Littleton (Feb. 21),Denver Public Library’s Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales Branch (Feb. 23),Metropolitan State University Denver (Feb. 26) andCommunity College of Aurora (Feb. 28). Free.Call 303-894-7951 or visitfor more information.
Beyond Five Points: Northeast Denver and Park Hill by Bus is a smart and deeply relevant way to narrate the history of Denver’s real estate “color line” and its African-American residents — and how they’ve both moved significantly over the years. Black American West Museum board members will join passengers on this tour of local streets and buildings, produced by History Colorado. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 23. Tickets: $70-$95 include transportation, admission and guides. Call303-866-2394 or emailreservations@state.co.us.
