Studying history to make history: Regis to host the Colorado Black Equity Study

Every day, the students, faculty and staff of Regis University are striving for social justice on and off campus. On Thursday, March 12, the ongoing Good Trouble Conversation series will invite the Colorado Black Equity Study to share for the first time their findings with the Regis community.

The Colorado Black Equity Study is a now two-year-long grant stemming from Senate Bill 24-053, or the Racial Equity Study, passed in June of 2024. This bill established a Black Coloradan Racial Equity Study Commission and called upon History Colorado to conduct a deep dive into Colorado history to identify the practices and policies of the state that have disproportionately harmed Black Coloradans.

The Colorado Black Equity Study saw its inception in grassroots movements of 2020. In the time of lockdowns due to COVID-19, many Coloradans could “no longer run from things they were dodging,” described Chloé Duplessis, Program Manager of the Colorado Black Equity Study. With America’s eyes focused on the mass media campaigns showcasing police brutality throughout the country, it called many to the forefront of justice for people of color.

The Colorado Black Equity Study, as it stands currently, is fully community-funded, with a current budget of $1.3 million. Taking no grants from the federal or state government, the study is backed fully by individuals who see its restorative and reparative value. 

Duplessis is working with a team of researchers and contractors to take the plunge through over a century of history and documentation. Duplessis is an educator, artist and historian dedicated to creating art and history installations to educate and resonate on the Black Colorado experience. Utilizing art, history and research, Duplessis brings a creative flair to the work of justice of the Colorado Black Equity Study.

“I fully believe that in the times that we are living, that art and history are two of the things that can dissolve walls, that can create instant community and that can support us,” said Duplessis.“I think one of the greatest gifts is being able to both create but also to lead the Colorado Black Equity Study.”

Through the research that the Colorado Black Equity study has conducted thus far, Duplessis and her team are parsing the often-forgotten history of Black Coloradans, beginning with the enslaved Black individuals who were brought to the state. While Colorado was not a “slave state,” many of the figures that people think of as the original Coloradans came from slaveholding families or held slaves themselves.

Addressing this history and how it directly links to modern injustices of housing, health care and criminal justice is imperative to the mission of the Colorado Black Equity Study. Through this, as Duplessis described, the histories of people of color in Colorado will weave into the rich narrative of state history and its perception.

“Essentially, when you think ‘Colorado,’ you don't automatically think of a strong presence of communities of color, specifically as it relates to Black people,” said Duplessis. “So, as a historian, I knew one of my truths is that Black people are everywhere.”

For Regis, bringing the Colorado Black Equity Study to campus is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff and community to not only connect with the project, but to do their own work of real-time reparation. Not just in relationships to communities of color, but in relationships to themselves.

According to Duplessis, young people have some of the most power over action and perception. As “living history” themselves, Duplessis hopes to connect the students of Regis to that power for advocacy and change.

“It's the small decisions that you make every day that can really activate real-time repair.” Duplessis continued, “We've just got to keep sharing our stories and keep talking to each other, because if we do those two things, then we literally are invincible.”

Attend the Good Trouble Conversation: Colorado Black Equity Study on Thursday, March 12, from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. in Claver Hall, Mountain View Room on Regis University’s Denver Campus to learn more about the Colorado Black Equity Study.