Colorado's State Flag

The Colorado State Flag ...

The Colorado state flag was designed by Andrew Carlisle Johnson and adopted in 1911. Over the years, there have been some modifications of the flag but they have served the purpose of clarifying its size, color and dimensions. The colors are the same colors as the national flag with 3 horizontal stripes forming the field (a white stripe is in-between the top and bottom blue stripes). Near the middle is a simple but easy-to-read, crimson "C". Inside the "C" is a gold disc, probably referencing Colorado's gold rush history.

The Colorado state flag.

The Colorado Historical society has an exceptional website @ www.historycolorado.org for state history, state museums, and historic sites. It is informative as well as rich with events and programs, online exhibits as well as on location!

From Territory to State and on to Social Beacon

Colorado was brought into the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803 and between the years 1848 and 1850, it became a territory that fell under the jurisdiction of several other territories (Colorado.gov): Indiana Territory, Louisiana Territory, Missouri Territory, Utah Territory, New Mexico Territory, Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory.

Finally, on February 28, 1863, Colorado became its own Colorado Territory. In 1863, the first bill for Colorado's statehood was written. And vetoed. Between 1863-1873, Colorado's statehood petition was vetoed some 8 different times. 

On August 1, 1876, after strong support by President Ulysses S. Grant, Colorado became the 38th state.

Colorado's history is as rich as Colorado's gold rush. It contains a history of male and female pioneers. One of these early pioneers is Molly Brown, best known from the musical biography of her life, The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

The "unsinkable" and unstoppable Molly Brown

While the musical covers Brown's rags to riches story, her attempts to enter Denver society, and her surviving the sinking of the Titanic, it does not do justice to how serious she was about politics and social reform. In 1901, Brown ran for the state Senate (before women could even vote). She also was a vocal advocate for suffrage. (Colorado was the second state to pass suffrage. Wyoming was the first.)

Though Molly Brown and Mother Jones occupy two very different ends of the socio-political spectrum, both came together over Colorado mining/ labor law. It was the Ludlow Massacre, to be precise, which found the wealthy social progressive, Molly Brown, and the politically active firebrand, Mother Jones, defending miners' rights ... and undoubtedly annoying mine owner John D. Rockefeller with their criticism of him in the process.

Mother Jones actually was present at the fiasco that became the Ludlow Massacre; Brown subsequently raised relief for surviving victims of the massacre and advocated for reforms in mining labor law. And yes, that Mother Jones is the same Mother Jones for whom the magazine is named!

Let it fly!