PRESS CONTACT:
Luke Perkins, Manager of Communications and Public Relations
303.866.3670 | luke.perkins@state.co.us 

The 2024 season of Bold Women. Change History. features visionary speakers, including Natalie Diaz the author of Postcolonial Love Poem which is the featured book for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read, as well as History Colorado’s annual Women’s History Symposium. This quartet of events will generate new knowledge and understandings of women’s role in history by sharing the stories of trailblazers and sparking adventurous dialogue that allows us to better understand our past and present.

“One of the truly remarkable things about Bold Women. Change History. is the variety of lived experiences that people bring to each of our events,” said Susan Fries, deputy community museums officer and director of the Center for Colorado Women’s History. “This diversity of perspectives leads to courageous conversations about womanhood and the challenges we have and continue to face. Our partnership with NEA Big Read broadens this even further as we’ve engaged with community members over the previous months and will be able to discuss this communal experience with Natalie Diaz herself.”

2024 Bold Women. Change History. Series:
Natalie Diaz: Poet. Linguist. MacArthur Genius. | Denver, CO
History Colorado Center | April 24, 7 – 9 p.m.
Tickets ($30-35) and additional information are available here.
This keynote presentation and conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning poet, and MacArthur Genius, Natalie Diaz will kick off the 2024 season on April 24 at 7 p.m. This opening event is the culmination of a city-wide NEA Big Read of Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem and is presented in collaboration with The Word: A Storytelling Sanctuary. 

This event is a remarkable opportunity to celebrate the city-wide reading of Postcolonial Love Poem and a chance to unravel notions of American goodness and engage with important questions about the wounds inflicted by America onto Indigenous peoples. Diaz’s keynote presentation - along with all 2024 Bold Women. Change History. gatherings at the History Colorado Center - will include complimentary onsite child care for children ages 6 to 12.*

Health and Land Intersect: One North Denver Community's Response | Denver, CO
Center for Colorado Women’s History | May 23, 6 p.m.
Tickets ($10-15) and additional information are available here.
Join The Center for Colorado Women's History, High Country News, and the Globeville Elyria-Swansea (GES) Coalition for a conversation on how land and health intersect and shape each other in north Denver. As a follow-up to High Country News' feature on the paradox of green space in north Denver, this event will explore how across the West, highways and rail lines projects have long divided communities of color. These projects take land away from long-time residents and threaten the health of those who remain, but residents have been fighting back. 

High Country News contributing editor Raksha Vasudevan will moderate a conversation and Q&A with GES Coalition Director Nola Miguel, and longtime resident and head of the GES Tree Planting Project, Yadira Sanchez. This conversation – which will be presented in both English and Spanish – will cover Miguel and Sanchez’s family histories in the neighborhood, as well as their current efforts to reclaim land, increase green space and improve health conditions in GES. 

Stacy A. Bohlen: Leader. Health Equity Advocate. Truth Speaker. | Denver, CO
History Colorado Center | May 30, 7 – 8 p.m. 
Tickets ($10-15) and additional information are available here.
Join Bold Women. Change History. on May 30 at 7 p.m. for a catalyzing conversation about the health outcomes of historical trauma with Stacy A. Bohlen, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the CEO of the National Indian Health Board. This conversation will take an historical look at how the legacies of colonization have led to health disparities in Tribal communities that persist today. Bohlen will discuss how the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age influence their health, as well as how policies such as the Indian Removal Act and Federal Indian Boarding Schools separated American Indians and Alaskan Natives from cultural practices that traditionally made them less vulnerable to disease. Bohlen will also present examples of resilience and creativity among American Indian and Alaskan Native communities that have led to improvements in physical and mental health. 

Banking for Activism with The Pledgettes: Educate. Embolden. Invest. | Denver, CO
Center for Colorado Women’s History | June 20, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
Tickets ($10-15) and additional information are available here.
The Center for Colorado Women’s History and The Pledgettes – a nonprofit organization that emboldens women to align their money to their values to create more powerful financial lives – are hosting a workshop all about intentional banking through the lens of gender on June 20 from 4 – 5:30 p.m. Facilitated by The Pledgettes’ founder Jenn Uhen, participants will learn more about the history of the gender wealth gap, community banking, and the impact that can be had when women make informed financial choices.

Participants will be invited to learn from one another and share in one-on-one and small group discussions about their own money experiences using prompts such as ‘What is your first money memory?’ In discussion with one another and Uhen, visitors will gain confidence in their financial literacy as well as free and low cost steps they can take towards empowered banking.

Danielle Shoots: Wealth Equity Champion. TEDx Speaker. Investor. | Denver, CO
History Colorado Center | June 27, 7 – 8 p.m. 
Tickets ($10-15) and additional information are available here.
On June 27, Bold Women. Change History. will host a discussion on women’s economic justice with Danielle Shoots, a venture investor focused on BIPOC Founders and a champion for investments as a tool for economic equity. Shoots will discuss the history of our financial and economic systems and how they have perpetuated wealth disparities that disproportionately impact women and People of Color. She will also talk about how the U.S. government must reverse these gaps and the bold actions that can be taken to quickly address gender and racial wealth disparities and promote economic equity. 

Women’s History Symposium: Share. Learn. Discover. | Denver, CO
History Colorado Center | November 16 , 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Tickets ($35-40) and additional information are available here.
Season four of Bold Women. Change History. will conclude with the annual Women’s History Symposium on November 16. Designed as a gathering of educators, museum professionals, researchers, and individuals from all walks of life, the Women’s History Symposium is a chance to explore how women’s history is found in unexpected places and through non-traditional techniques. 

This year’s Symposium is focused on the theme of “Framed in Time” and will be an exploration of how women have expressed their agency throughout Colorado’s history and will feature multiple panel discussions, presentations, and a keynote by award winning artist Chloé Duplessis.

“This symposium is a chance for us to explore important Colorado women by illuminating the choices they made, the societal expectations and barriers put before them during their lives, and how their actions were perceived by their contemporaries and later scholars,” Fries said. “The content presented by researchers at the symposium will build towards upcoming work at the Center for Colorado Women’s History and directly inform the exhibitions, tours, and interpretation happening at our historic house museum.”

A Call for Proposals to present at the 2024 Women’s History Symposium will be released on June 1, 2024. All presentation proposals are due on September 23, 2024, at 12 p.m. MDT.

*Guardians are required to stay on the premises while children are enrolled in complimentary childcare at Bold Women. Change History. events and must complete a check-in form and present ID at pickup. 

About Bold Women. Change History.
Inspired by the ambitious, innovative spirit of Colorado, where voters were the first in the nation to eliminate gender discrimination at the ballot box, the Bold Women. Change History. Series features authors, scholars and history makers who illustrate the innovations that happen when women have a seat at the table. Lead by the Center for Colorado Women’s History, Bold Women. Change History. generates new knowledge and understandings of women’s role in history by sharing their stories and sparking adventurous dialogue that builds pathways to new understandings. 

Bold Women. Change History. is a collaborative effort between History Colorado and our sponsors: Cathey McClain Finlon & Dick Finlon; Josephine H. Miles Trust; and CBS Colorado.

Tickets and more information: h-co.org/boldwomen

Use discount code Access40 if you are experiencing financial hardship and the price of tickets are a barrier to your participation in any Bold Women. Change History. events. 

About History Colorado
History Colorado is a division of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and a 501(c)3 non-profit that has served more than 75,000 students and 500,000 people in Colorado each year. It is a 144-year-old institution that operates eleven museums and historic sites, a free public research center, the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation which provides technical assistance, educational opportunities, and other access to archaeology and historic preservation, and the History Colorado State Historical Fund (SHF), which is one of the nation’s largest state funded preservation programs of its kind. More than 70% of SHF grants are allocated in rural areas of the state. Additionally, the offices of the State Archaeologist and the State Historic Preservation Officer are part of History Colorado. 

History Colorado’s mission is to create a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. We serve as the state’s memory, preserving and sharing the places, stories, and material culture of Colorado through educational programs, historic preservation grants, collecting, outreach to Colorado communities, the History Colorado Center and Stephen H. Hart Research Center in Denver, and 10 other museums and historic attractions statewide. History Colorado is one of only six Smithsonian Affiliates in Colorado. Visit HistoryColorado.org, or call 303-HISTORY, for more information. #HistoryColorado