Editing Colorado (section)

==History==
{{main|Prehistory of Colorado|History of Colorado}}
{{for timeline|Timeline of Colorado history}}
[[File:Mesa-Verde---Cliff-Palace-in 1891 - edit1.jpg|thumb|The ruins of the [[Cliff Palace]] of [[Mesa Verde National Park|Mesa Verde]], photographed by [[Gustaf Nordenskiöld]] in 1891]]
[[File:BentsFort.jpg|thumb|[[Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site]] on the [[Santa Fe National Historic Trail]].]]

The region that is today the State of Colorado has been inhabited by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] and their [[Paleo-Indians|Paleoamerican ancestors]] for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years.<ref name=Footprints>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/fossilized-footprints.htm|title=Fossilized Footprints|publisher=[[United States]] [[National Park Service]]|access-date=August 6, 2022}}</ref><ref name=Mammoth>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/world/mammoth-fossils-early-humans-scn/index.html|title=Discovery in paleontologist's backyard reveals evidence of North America's early humans|author=Ashley Strickland|publisher=[[Cable News Network]]|date=August 4, 2022|access-date=August 6, 2022}}</ref> The eastern edge of the [[Rocky Mountains]] was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The [[Lindenmeier site]] in [[Larimer County, Colorado|Larimer County]] contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE. The [[Ancient Pueblo peoples]] lived in the valleys and mesas of the [[Colorado Plateau]] in far southwestern Colorado.<ref>"[http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/genocide-native-americans-ethnic-cleansing.html Genocide Wiped Out Native American Population ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922190638/http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/genocide-native-americans-ethnic-cleansing.html |date=September 22, 2010 }}", Discovery News, September 20, 2010.</ref> The [[Ute Nation]] inhabited the mountain valleys of the [[Southern Rocky Mountains]] and the [[Western Rocky Mountains]], even as far east as the Front Range of the present day. The [[Apache]] and the [[Comanche]] also inhabited the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the state. In the 17th century, the [[Arapaho Nation|Arapaho]] and [[Cheyenne Nation|Cheyenne]] moved west from the [[Great Lakes region]] to hunt across the [[High Plains (United States)|High Plains]] of Colorado and [[Wyoming]].

The [[Spanish Empire]] claimed Colorado as part of [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México|Nuevo México]]. The U.S. acquired the territorial claim to the eastern Rocky Mountains with the [[Louisiana Purchase]] from France in 1803. This U.S. claim conflicted with the claim by Spain to the upper [[Arkansas River|Arkansas River Basin]]. In 1806, [[Zebulon Pike]] led a [[Pike Expedition|U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition]] into the disputed region. Colonel Pike and his troops were arrested by Spanish cavalrymen in the [[San Luis Valley]] the following February, taken to [[Chihuahua, Chihuahua|Chihuahua]], and expelled from Mexico the following July.

The U.S. relinquished its claim to all land south and west of the [[Arkansas River]] and south of [[42nd parallel north]] and west of the [[100th meridian west]] as part of its purchase of Florida from Spain with the [[Adams-Onís Treaty]] of 1819. The treaty took effect on February 22, 1821. Having settled its border with Spain, the U.S. admitted the southeastern portion of the [[Missouri Territory|Territory of Missouri]] to the Union as the [[Missouri|state of Missouri]] on August 10, 1821. The remainder of Missouri Territory, including what would become northeastern Colorado, became an unorganized territory and remained so for 33 years over the [[Slavery in the United States|question of slavery]]. After 11 years of war, Spain finally recognized the independence of Mexico with the [[Treaty of Córdoba]] signed on August 24, 1821. Mexico eventually ratified the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1831. The [[Texian Revolt]] of 1835–36 fomented a dispute between the U.S. and Mexico which eventually erupted into the [[Mexican–American War]] in 1846. Mexico surrendered its northern territory to the U.S. with the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] after the war in 1848; this included much of the western and southern areas of Colorado.
[[File:Mexican Cession in Mexican View.PNG|thumb|Map of the [[Mexican Cession]], with the white representing the territory the United States received from Mexico (plus land ceded to the [[Republic of Texas]]) after the [[Mexican–American War]]. Well over half of Colorado was received from this treaty.]]

Most American settlers first traveled to Colorado through the [[Santa Fe Trail]], which connected the U.S. to [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] and the [[Camino Real de Tierra Adentro]] southward. Others were traveling overland west to the [[Oregon Country]], the new [[California gold rush|goldfields of California]], or the new [[Mormon]] settlements of the [[State of Deseret]] in the [[Salt Lake Valley]], avoided the rugged [[Southern Rocky Mountains]], and instead followed the [[North Platte River]] and [[Sweetwater River (Wyoming)|Sweetwater River]] to [[South Pass (Wyoming)]], the lowest crossing of the [[Continental Divide]] between the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Central Rocky Mountains. In 1849, the Mormons of the Salt Lake Valley organized the extralegal [[State of Deseret]], claiming the entire [[Great Basin]] and all lands drained by the rivers [[Green River (Colorado River)|Green]], [[Colorado River|Grand]], and [[Colorado River|Colorado]]. The federal government of the U.S. flatly refused to recognize the new Mormon government because it was [[History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Brigham Young's early theocratic leadership|theocratic]] and [[Sanctions (law)|sanctioned]] [[Mormonism and polygamy|plural marriage]]. Instead, the [[Compromise of 1850]] divided the [[Mexican Cession]] and the northwestern claims of Texas into a new state and two new territories, the [[state of California]], the [[Territory of New Mexico]], and the [[Territory of Utah]]. On April 9, 1851, [[Hispanos of New Mexico|Hispano]] settlers from the area of [[Taos, New Mexico|Taos]] settled the village of [[San Luis, Colorado|San Luis]], then in the [[New Mexico Territory]], as Colorado's first permanent [[European American|Euro-American]] [[settlement (migration)|settlement]], further cementing the traditions of [[New Mexican cuisine]] and [[New Mexico music]] in the developing [[Southern Rocky Mountain Front]].<ref name="Lyons 2018">{{cite web | last=Lyons | first=Luke | title=Musical festival brings in top New Mexico, regional acts | website=Pueblo Chieftain | date=September 27, 2018 | url=https://www.chieftain.com/story/entertainment/local/2018/09/27/musical-festival-brings-in-top/9290899007/ | access-date=March 4, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Sexton 2019">{{cite web | last=Sexton | first=Josie | title=The Hatch and Pueblo chile feud is heating up. Why is Colorado losing? | website=The Denver Post | date=September 18, 2019 | url=https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/18/pueblo-chile-colorado/ | access-date=March 4, 2024}}</ref>

In 1854, Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] persuaded the [[U.S. Congress]] to divide the unorganized territory east of the [[Continental Divide]] into two new organized territories, the [[Territory of Kansas]] and the [[Territory of Nebraska]], and an unorganized southern region known as the [[Indian Territory]]. Each new territory was to decide the fate of slavery within its boundaries, but this compromise merely served to fuel animosity between [[free soil]] and [[Proslavery in the antebellum United States|pro-slavery]] factions.

The gold seekers organized the [[Jefferson Territory|Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson]] on August 24, 1859, but this new territory failed to secure approval from the [[Congress of the United States]] embroiled in the debate over slavery. The election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the [[secession]] of nine southern [[slave states]] and the threat of [[American Civil War|civil war among the states]]. Seeking to augment the political power of the [[free state (United States)|Union states]], the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]-dominated Congress quickly admitted the eastern portion of the [[Territory of Kansas]] into the [[United States|Union]] as the free [[Kansas|State of Kansas]] on January 29, 1861, leaving the western portion of the Kansas Territory, and its gold-mining areas, as unorganized territory.

===Territory act===
{{Main|Organic act#List of organic acts|New Mexico Territory|Utah Territory|Kansas–Nebraska Act|Kansas Territory|Nebraska Territory|Colorado Territory|Pike's Peak Gold Rush}}
[[File:1860 Colorado Territory map.svg|thumb|left|The territories of [[New Mexico Territory|New Mexico]], [[Utah Territory|Utah]], [[Kansas Territory|Kansas]], and [[Nebraska Territory|Nebraska]] before the creation of the [[Territory of Colorado]]]]

Thirty days later on February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President [[James Buchanan]] signed an Act of Congress organizing the [[Free state (United States)|free]] [[Territory of Colorado]].<ref name=ColoradoOrganicAct/> The original boundaries of Colorado remain unchanged except for government survey amendments. In 1776, Spanish priest [[Silvestre Vélez de Escalante]] recorded that Native Americans in the area knew the river as ''[[:es:Rio Colorado|el Rio Colorado]]'' for the red-brown silt that the river carried from the mountains.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Multiple Property Documentation Form |title=National-Register-of-Historic |url=https://www.nps.gov/elca/learn/historyculture/upload/National-Register-of-Historic-Places-Multiple-Properties-508.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.nps.gov/elca/learn/historyculture/upload/National-Register-of-Historic-Places-Multiple-Properties-508.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=www.nps.gov}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2021}} In 1859, a U.S. Army [[Topography|topographic]] expedition led by Captain [[John Navarre Macomb, Jr.|John Macomb]] located the confluence of the [[Green River (Colorado River)|Green River]] with the [[Grand River (Colorado)|Grand River]] in what is now [[Canyonlands National Park]] in [[Utah]].<ref name=Macomb>Report of the exploring expedition from Santa Fé, New Mexico, to the junction of the Grand and Green Rivers of the great Colorado of the West, in 1859: under the command of Capt. J. N. Macomb, Corps of topographical engineers, Volume 1 [https://archive.org/stream/reportofexplorin00unitrich#page/n5/mode/2up @ archive.org]</ref> The Macomb party designated the confluence as the source of the Colorado River.

On April 12, 1861, [[South Carolina]] artillery opened fire on [[Fort Sumter]] to start the [[American Civil War]]. While many gold seekers held sympathies for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], the vast majority remained fiercely loyal to the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause.

In 1862, a force of Texas cavalry invaded the [[Territory of New Mexico]] and captured [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] on March 10. The object of this [[New Mexico Campaign|Western Campaign]] was to seize or disrupt Colorado and California's gold fields and seize Pacific Ocean ports for the Confederacy. A hastily organized force of Colorado volunteers force-marched from [[Denver City, Colorado Territory]], to [[Glorieta Pass]], New Mexico Territory, in an attempt to block the Texans. On March 28, the Coloradans and local New Mexico volunteers stopped the Texans at the [[Battle of Glorieta Pass]], destroyed their cannon and supply wagons, and dispersed 500 of their horses and mules.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Blood & treasure : Confederate Empire in the Southwest|last=Frazier |first=Donald Shaw |date=1995|publisher=Texas A & M University Press|isbn=0585303304|edition=1st|location=College Station|oclc=45732362}}</ref> The Texans were forced to retreat to Santa Fe. Having lost the supplies for their campaign and finding little support in New Mexico, the Texans abandoned Santa Fe and returned to [[San Antonio]] in defeat. The Confederacy made no further attempts to seize the Southwestern United States.
[[File:Mount of the Holy Cross.jpeg|thumb|[[Mount of the Holy Cross]], photographed by [[William Henry Jackson]] in 1874]]

In 1864, [[Governor of Colorado|Territorial Governor]] [[John Evans (Colorado governor)|John Evans]] appointed the Reverend [[John Chivington]] as Colonel of the Colorado Volunteers with orders to protect white settlers from [[Cheyenne]] and [[Arapaho]] warriors who were accused of stealing cattle. Colonel Chivington ordered his troops to attack a band of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped along Sand Creek. Chivington reported that his troops killed more than 500 warriors. The militia returned to Denver City in triumph, but several officers reported that the so-called battle was a blatant massacre of Indians at peace, that most of the dead were women and children, and that the bodies of the dead had been hideously mutilated and desecrated. Three U.S. Army inquiries condemned the action, and incoming President [[Andrew Johnson]] asked Governor Evans for his resignation, but none of the perpetrators was ever punished. This event is now known as the [[Sand Creek massacre]].

In the midst and aftermath of the Civil War, many discouraged prospectors returned to their homes, but a few stayed and developed mines, mills, farms, ranches, roads, and towns in Colorado Territory. On September 14, 1864, James Huff discovered silver near [[Argentine Pass]], the first of many silver strikes. In 1867, the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] laid its tracks west to Weir, now [[Julesburg, Colorado|Julesburg]], in the northeast corner of the Territory. The Union Pacific linked up with the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] at [[Promontory Summit, Utah]], on May 10, 1869, to form the [[First transcontinental railroad]]. The [[Denver Pacific Railway]] reached Denver in June of the following year, and the [[Kansas Pacific]] arrived two months later to forge the second line across the continent. In 1872, rich veins of silver were discovered in the [[San Juan Mountains]] on the [[Ute tribe|Ute Indian]] reservation in southwestern Colorado. The Ute people were removed from the San Juan Mountains the following year.

===Statehood===

{{Main|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union|Colorado Silver Boom|Cripple Creek Gold Rush}}
[[File:Georgetown loop 1899.jpg|thumb|The [[Georgetown Loop]] of the [[Colorado Central Railroad]] as photographed by [[William Henry Jackson]] in 1899]]

The [[Forty-third United States Congress|United States Congress]] passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying the requirements for the Territory of Colorado to become a state.<ref name=ColoradoEnablingAct>{{cite web|url=https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PROCEEDINGS%20OF%20THE%20CONSTITUTIONAL%20CONVENTION_0.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PROCEEDINGS%20OF%20THE%20CONSTITUTIONAL%20CONVENTION_0.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=An Act to Enable the People of Colorado to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of the Said State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States |author=Forty-third United States Congress |author-link=Forty-third United States Congress |date=March 3, 1875|access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref> On August 1, 1876 (four weeks after the [[Centennial of the United States]]), U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker "Centennial State".<ref name=ColoradoStatehoodProclamation>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=70540|title=Proclamation of the Admission of Colorado to the Union|format=[[php]]|author=President of the United States of America|date=August 1, 1876|publisher=The American Presidency Project|access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref>

The discovery of a major silver lode near [[Leadville, Colorado|Leadville]] in 1878 triggered the [[Colorado Silver Boom]]. The [[Sherman Silver Purchase Act]] of 1890 invigorated silver mining, and Colorado's last, but greatest, gold strike at [[Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek]] a few months later lured a new generation of gold seekers. Colorado women were granted the right to vote on November 7, 1893, making Colorado the second state to grant [[universal suffrage]] and the first one by a [[1893 Colorado women's suffrage referendum|popular vote]] (of Colorado men). The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 led to a staggering collapse of the mining and agricultural economy of Colorado, but the state slowly and steadily recovered. Between the 1880s and 1930s, Denver's floriculture industry developed into a major industry in Colorado.<ref>Shu Liu and Linda M. Meyer, [https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10217/5199/Carnations_Liu_Meyer.pdf?sequence=1 Carnations and the Floriculture Industry: Documenting the Cultivation and Marketing of Flowers in Colorado], 2007</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A History—Colorado Flower Growers and its People|last=Kingman|first=Dick|publisher=Colorado Greenhouse Growers Association, Inc.|year=1986|url=http://ghex.colostate.edu/pdf_files/AHistoryColoradoFlowerGrowersAndItsPeople.pdf|access-date=March 13, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304101812/http://ghex.colostate.edu/pdf_files/AHistoryColoradoFlowerGrowersAndItsPeople.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> This period became known locally as the [[Carnation Gold Rush]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.denverrealestatewatch.com/2015/10/15/neighbors-want-historic-designation-for-nw-denver-home/|title=Neighbors want historic designation for NW Denver home|last=Rebchook|first=John|date=October 15, 2015}}</ref>

===Twentieth and twenty-first centuries===
[[File:16th street denver L.C McClure.jpg|thumb|upright|16th Street in Denver in 1912]]
[[File:Ruins of Ludlow restored.jpg|thumb|The ruins of the [[Ludlow massacre|Ludlow Colony]] in the aftermath of the 1914 massacre.]]
Poor labor conditions and discontent among miners resulted in several major clashes between strikers and the [[Colorado Army National Guard|Colorado National Guard]], including the [[Colorado Labor Wars|1903–1904 Western Federation of Miners Strike]] and [[Colorado Coalfield War]], the latter of which included the [[Ludlow massacre]] that killed a dozen women and children.<ref name="Philip Ross 1969">Philip Taft and Philip Ross, "American Labor Violence: Its Causes, Character, and Outcome", The History of Violence in America: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, ed. Hugh Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr, 1969.</ref><ref>McGovern, George; Guttridge, Leonard. ''The Great Coalfield War''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1972. 88, 89 p.</ref> Both the 1913–1914 Coalfield War and the [[Denver streetcar strike of 1920]] resulted in federal troops intervening to end the violence.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/denvertramwayst00actigoog/page/n32/mode/2up|page=33|title=The Denver Tramway Strike of 1920|year=1921|last1=Devine|first1=Edward T.|last2=Ryan|first2=John A.|last3=Lapp|first3=John A.|publisher=The Denver Commission of Religious Forces and [[National Catholic Welfare Council]]|access-date=October 12, 2020}}</ref> In 1927, the [[1927–1928 Colorado Coal Strike|1927-28 Colorado coal strike]] occurred and was ultimately successful in winning a dollar a day increase in wages.<ref>{{cite journal |last=McClurg |first=Donald J. |year=1963 |title=The Colorado Coal Strike of 1927 &ndash; Tactical Leadership of the IWW |journal=Labor History |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=71 |doi=10.1080/00236566308583916 |issn=0023-656X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Conlin |first=Joseph R. |title=At the Point of Production: The Local History of the IWW |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1981 |page=203 |author-link=Joseph R. Conlin}}</ref> During it however the [[Columbine Mine massacre]] resulted in six dead strikers following a confrontation with [[Colorado Rangers]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Schreck |first=Christopher |title=The Strike of 1927 |newspaper=Colorado Fuel and Iron: Culture and Industry in Southern Colorado |url=http://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-colorado-fuel-and-iron-company/the-strike-of-1927 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=P. Marsh |first=Douglas |date=August 5, 2022 |title=Colorado and the IWW, Part III |url=https://industrialworker.org/colorado-and-the-iww-part-iii/}}</ref> In a separate incident in [[Trinidad, Colorado|Trinidad]] the mayor was accused of deputizing members of the KKK against the striking workers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bayard |first=Charles J. |date=1963 |title=The 1927-1928 Colorado Coal Strike |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4492179 |journal=Pacific Historical Review |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=235–250 |doi=10.2307/4492179 |jstor=4492179 |issn=0030-8684}}</ref> More than 5,000 Colorado miners—many immigrants—are estimated to have died in accidents since records were first formally collected following an 1884 accident in [[Crested Butte, Colorado|Crested Butte]] that killed 59.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16079coll16/id/1931 |title=Pre-1963 Colorado mining fatalities |author=Gerald Emerson Sherard |date=2006 |page=1 |access-date=November 12, 2019 |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807040838/https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p16079coll16/id/1931 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1924, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] Colorado Realm achieved dominance in Colorado politics. With peak membership levels, the [[Ku Klux Klan#Second Klan|Second Klan]] levied significant control over both the local and state [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican parties]], particularly in the governor's office and city governments of Denver, [[Canon City, Colorado|Cañon City]], and [[Durango, Colorado|Durango]]. A particularly strong element of the Klan controlled the [[Denver Police Department|Denver Police]].<ref name=KKK>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ku-klux-klan-colorado|title=Ku Klux Klan in Colorado|encyclopedia=Colorado Encyclopedia|last=Louvaris|first=Elenie|date=August 20, 2019|access-date=April 12, 2021}}</ref> [[Cross burning]]s became semi-regular occurrences in cities such as [[Florence, Colorado|Florence]] and Pueblo. The Klan targeted African-Americans, [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], Eastern European immigrants, and other non-White [[Protestant]] groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2014/04/10/ku-klux-klan-once-a-fremont-county-political-powerhouse/|title=Ku Klux Klan once a Fremont County political powerhouse|work=Cañon City Daily Record|location=[[Canon City, Colorado|Cañon City, CO]]|date=April 15, 2019|last=Canterbury|first=Carie|access-date=April 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215041415/https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2014/04/10/ku-klux-klan-once-a-fremont-county-political-powerhouse/|archive-date=December 15, 2020}}</ref> Efforts by non-Klan lawmen and lawyers including [[Philip S. Van Cise|Philip Van Cise]] led to a rapid decline in the organization's power, with membership waning significantly by the end of the 1920s.<ref name=KKK/>

[[File:Three 10th Mountain Division Skitroopers above Camp Hale, 1944.png|thumb|Three [[10th Mountain Division]] skitroopers above [[Camp Hale]] in February 1944]]

Colorado became the first western state to host a major political convention when the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] met in Denver in 1908. By the [[United States Census, 1930|U.S. census in 1930]], the population of Colorado first exceeded one million residents. Colorado suffered greatly through the [[Great Depression]] and the [[Dust Bowl]] of the 1930s, but a major wave of immigration following [[World War II]] boosted Colorado's fortune. Tourism became a mainstay of the state economy, and high technology became an important economic engine. The [[United States Census Bureau]] estimated that the population of Colorado exceeded five million in 2009.

On September 11, 1957, a plutonium fire occurred at the [[Rocky Flats Plant]], which resulted in the significant [[Radioactive contamination from the Rocky Flats Plant|plutonium contamination]] of surrounding populated areas.<ref>{{cite web|last=Iversen |first=Kristen |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/06/12/154839592/under-the-nuclear-shadow-of-colorados-rocky-flats |title=Under The 'Nuclear Shadow' Of Colorado's Rocky Flats |publisher=NPR |date=June 12, 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:Skiers on Aspen Mountain, Colorado in 1961.jpg|thumb|Skiers on [[Aspen Mountain (ski area)|Aspen Mountain]] in 1961]]
From the 1940s and 1970s, many protest movements gained momentum in Colorado, predominantly in Denver. This included the [[Chicano Movement]], a [[Civil rights movements|civil rights]], and social movement of [[Mexican Americans]] emphasizing a [[Chicano]] identity that is widely considered to have begun in Denver.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/06/30/137529484/the-chicano-movements-denver-roots-run-deep|title=The Chicano Movement's Denver Roots Run Deep|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|work=Talk of the Nation|date=June 30, 2011|access-date=March 25, 2021}}</ref> The National [[Chicano Youth Liberation Conference]] was held in Colorado in March 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/history-society/defining-chicanismo-since-the-1969-denver-youth-conference|title=Defining 'Chicanismo' Since the 1969 Denver Youth Conference|first=Kelly|last=Simpson|date=23 March 2012|access-date=15 October 2022|publisher=KCET}}</ref>

In 1967, Colorado was the first state to loosen restrictions on [[Abortion in Colorado|abortion]] when governor [[John Arthur Love|John Love]] signed a law allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the woman's mental or physical health. Many states followed Colorado's lead in loosening abortion laws in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=It's Been 50 Years Since Colorado Passed This Groundbreaking Abortion Law |url=https://time.com/4753918/colorado-abortion-law-50-year-anniversary/ |magazine=Time |date=April 25, 2017 |access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref>

Since the late 1990s, Colorado has been the site of [[List of shootings in Colorado|multiple major]] [[mass shooting]]s, including the infamous [[Columbine High School massacre]] in 1999 which made international news, where [[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold|two gunmen]] killed 12 students and one teacher, before committing suicide. The incident has spawned many [[Columbine effect|copycat incidents]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Follman |first1=Mark |last2=Andrews |first2=Becca |title=Here's the terrifying new data on how Columbine spawned dozens of copycats |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/columbine-effect-mass-shootings-copycat-data/ |website=Mother Jones |access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref> On July 20, 2012, a [[2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting|gunman killed 12 people]] in a movie theater in [[Aurora, Colorado|Aurora]]. The state responded with tighter restrictions on firearms, including [[High-capacity magazine ban|introducing a limit]] on [[magazine (firearms)|magazine]] capacity.<ref>{{cite web |title=How Colorado's gun laws have changed since the Aurora shooting |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/25/colorado-gun-control-laws-aurora-shooting |website=The Guardian |date=July 25, 2015 |access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref> On March 22, 2021, a [[2021 Boulder shooting|gunman killed 10 people]], including a police officer, in a [[King Soopers]] supermarket in [[Boulder, Colorado|Boulder]].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Hern|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Ehern|first2=Ez {{!}}|date=March 22, 2021|title=Boulder shooting: Gunman kills 10, including police officer, at King Soopers|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/22/police-active-shooter-shooting-king-soopers-boulder/|access-date=March 23, 2021|website=The Denver Post}}</ref> In an instance of [[Violence against LGBT people|anti-LGBT violence]], a [[Colorado Springs nightclub shooting|gunman killed 5 people]] at a nightclub in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]] during the night of November 19–20, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vera |first=Eric Levenson, Michelle Watson, Andy Rose, Amir |date=2022-11-20 |title=Gunman kills 5 at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs before patrons confront and stop him, police say |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-nightclub/index.html |access-date=2023-03-09 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

Four warships of the [[U.S. Navy]] have been named the [[USS Colorado|USS ''Colorado'']]. The first USS ''Colorado'' was named for the Colorado River and served in the Civil War and later the [[Asiatic Squadron]], where it was attacked during the 1871 [[United States expedition to Korea|Korean Expedition]]. The later three ships were named in honor of the state, including [[USS Colorado (ACR-7)|an armored cruiser]] and the [[USS Colorado (BB-45)|battleship USS ''Colorado'']], the latter of which was the lead ship of [[Colorado-class battleship|her class]] and served in [[War in the Pacific|World War II in the Pacific]] beginning in 1941. At the time of the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the battleship USS ''Colorado'' was located at the naval base in San Diego, California, and thus went unscathed. The most recent vessel to bear the name USS ''Colorado'' is [[Virginia-class submarine]] [[USS Colorado (SSN-788)|USS ''Colorado'' (SSN-788)]], which was commissioned in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/371051/uss-colorado-continues-tradition-submarine-battle-flag|title=USS Colorado Continues the Tradition of the Submarine Battle Flag|work=Defense Visual Information Distribution Service|date=May 29, 2020|last=Coffield|first=Alfred|location=[[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]], [[Connecticut|CT]]|access-date=May 10, 2021}}</ref>