The Privilege of Home
Understanding the Ute Civilization's History in Colorado Springs
The Ute Civilizations of Colorado
Handed down from generation to generation, the Ute people's history was born in the Rockies.
They have always been established in the mountains, and traveled throughout the western plains.
A rough outline of where the Utes territory, including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Northern New Mexico, and Arizona.
Before Colorado was established, before cowboys, and pilgrims even had a concept of the United States: the Ute civilizations inhabited this land. Their people traversed millions of acres of mountains and plains on well-worn paths, sustained by their ancestral knowledge of the local flora and fauna. Although they traveled in smaller groups, the many Ute bands formed a complex society: engaging in larger social gatherings and adhering to common laws. They were caretakers of the earth, mindful to not over harvest game or plants.
Despite the Utes and many other Native American civilizations being the origin of this land's history, it is rare we are taught about their culture or the abuse they suffered at the hand of our government.
It is easy to assume that because the Ute's land, culture, and people are spoken of in past tense, that they no longer exist. In fact, they are alive and well in Colorado and across the nation.
Who remembers these events is dictated by who is allowed to tell or omit the Ute's own story in history books.
The oppression of the Ute civilizations is not a singular event, but a universal experience of Native American groups across the country, who's repercussions continue today.
The map on the left shows the territories and languages of the Native American civilizations before colonization. The map on the right shows the land the Native Americans were permitted to occupy in the United States in 1885.
"Ute Indians at play", Denver Public Library Special Collections, Poley, H. S. (Horace Swartley), 1894
"Shan Kive"- A Good Time for Everyone
In 1894, members of the Ute bands were brought in from the Utah reservation to provide entertainment for the Flower Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
12 years had passed since the Ute tribes had been uprooted from the Pikes Peak region, and yet they were advertised as a primitive and exotic sideshow.
Whose Home?
Colorado Voices: Honoring Ute History and Culture (Ernest House, Jr.))
Colorado Springs is now inhabited by people from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicities, but it belonged to the Utes first and foremost.
It is festivals like Shan Kive that lead us all to believe lies: that Native Americans don't exist anymore, that they still live in teepees, that pioneers were taking empty or unused land. The role of Native Americans in U.S. history has intentionally been minimized or villianized to distract from the huge injustices that had been enacted upon them.
Additional Sources:
Jordan, Heather, et al. Bigwigs & Benefactors of the Pikes Peak Region. Pikes Peak Library District, 2017.
“Southern Ute Indian Tribe.” The Southern Ute Indian Tribe Reservation, https://www.southernute-nsn.gov/history/ .
Anthropology Courses with Dr. Kimbra Smith at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
