1970 Denver, Colorado: Percentage of Black Population by Blocks
This district court case, filed in 1969, was decided in favor of the parents and students by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972. In 1968, the Denver School Board passed the Noel Resolution, named after its champion, board member Rachel Noel, who was the first African American woman ever elected to public office in Colorado. The Noel Resolution required the Denver Public School Superintendent to address educational inequalities in northeast Denver schools, where gerrymandered school districts, new school construction, use of mobile classrooms, and assignment of minority teachers were all shown to have created what amounted to segregation in several Denver schools.
In response to the Noel Resolution, three new resolutions were proposed, debated, and passed to directly address the issue of segregation in the Denver schools. Bussing was a key component of the plan, which resulted in controversy. Two anti-bussing members were swept onto the school board in May of 1969. Within weeks, the three resolutions were rescinded, and in response a suit was brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado with Park Hill resident Wilfred Keyes as the lead plaintiff.
This map, Plaintiff’s Exhibit 827, is one of several maps that show Denver’s Black population by block between 1960 and 1970.
Our office holds records created by the U.S. District Courts in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
Plaintiff’s Exhibit 827, “1970 Denver, Colorado: Percentage of Black Population by Blocks”. National Archives Identifier: 431966343.
View and download Plaintiff's Exhibit 827 from the National Archives Catalog. This document is one example of the many records held at the National Archives at Denver. You can explore more of our holdings through the National Archives Catalog or by visiting the National Archives at Denver in person. This record is located within Record Group 21: Records of the District Courts of the United States, Series: Civil Case Files, 1912–2005. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized.