How to Celebrate Black History Month 2026 in Denver

'Godspeed'

WHEN: Jan. 30–Feb. 22, 2026
WHERE: The Dorota and Kevin Kilstrom Theatre
Playwright Terence Anthony dives into the Western genre with truth, grit and a nuanced grasp of how things played out in Black lives in the years between the end of the Civil War and the start of the Civil Rights Movement. His play (which received a staged reading during the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Colorado New Play Summit in 2023) is set in Texas shortly after the end of the Civil War, when enslavers and their enablers weren’t going gently. Our titular hero heads from Mexico to Texas, where she’d escaped bondage, toting a gun, a single bullet and an avenging purpose. Playwright Anthony and the play’s director, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, will be on hand for a special talkback on Feb. 5. Check out the Denver Center website for a bargain on tickets for that night. 

Jazz Roots in Five Points

WHEN: Feb. 7 & 21, 2026 (12 p.m. to 12 a.m.)
WHERE: Spangalang Brewery, Welton Street Cafe, Brother Jeff’s Cultural Center and other venues 
Denver’s Five Points Neighborhood remains tenaciously connected with the history of Black culture in Denver. In the mid-1900s on the “Welton Strip” — the Casino Ballroom, Sonny’s Lounge,  Rossonian Hotel to shout out a few — played both destination and welcoming respite for jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Art Blakley, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, among others. The spoken word gathering Slam Nuba was birthed in the neighborhood. In the early 2000s, the Five Points Jazz Festival drew thousands for a weekend. The festival is no longer but fear not. Local businesses and civic partners stepped up to keep the spirit of that most African American of musical genres warm and welcoming with First Fridays. This February, Spangalang Brewery plays host and hub as the Welton Street Corridor bops and swings with two full Saturdays of music and art traversing the storied strip for the Jazz Roots in Five Points festival. Acts include: Enmanuel Alexander, Tony Exum Jr. and Moe Valez. Local artists showing work: Joseph Graves, Randy McNulty, Shaq Martin, James Chapman, and Kaylee Bender and others. Don’t forget to stop by exhibition and tour at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. 

Jazz Performances at Dazzle

WHEN: Various dates in February
WHERE: Dazzle
For three decades, Purnell Steen, along with his troupe, the Five Points Ambassadors, stewarded Dazzle’s Black History Month offerings. The local jazz and Civil Rights luminary died in November 2025 but Dazzle carries on his legacy with a fine roster of acts throughout February, starting with a brunch/lunch with those talented Five Points Ambassadors (Feb. 6, 2026) and including among others: The Parrisian Live Band in a tribute to Roy Hargrove (Feb. 6, 2026), the Mile High Soul Collective (Feb. 11, 2026), Sista Soul (Feb. 13, 2026) the New Jazz Underground (Feb. 18, 2026).

Ephrat Asherie Dance with Arturo O'Farrill: Shadow Cities

WHEN: Feb. 19​, 2026
WHERE: Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver
The dance company will be bringing its African American- and Latin-infused street and club dances to D.U.’s stage.

Black History: John Singleton's 'Hood' Trilogy

WHEN: Feb. 21, 2026 (7 p.m.)
WHERE: Sie FilmCenter
The writer-director of “Boyz n tha Hood” — one of the canonical films of the 1990s indie film resurgence — gets his due when Denver Film’s Sie FilmCenter highlights his trilogy, which features that South Central coming-of-age drama and follow-ups “Poetic Justice” (Maya Angelou appearing as Aunt June; Regina King making her debut) and “Baby Boy.”  

The Spirituals Project Choir

WHEN: Feb. 26​, 2026
WHERE: Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver
The Spirituals Project, along with the Lamont Wind Ensemble, will be performing “Let Freedom Ring.”

'She Called Herself Kate: New Perspectives on Cathay Williams, A Buffalo Soldier'

WHEN: Feb. 28​, 2026
WHERE: Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
Join the library and the Center on Colfax's LGBTQ History Project for a bracing dive into the story of Cathay Williams, known as the only woman to have been a Buffalo Soldier. In 1866, Williams enlisted as "William Cathay" and served as a man. After that military stint, she lived in Colorado as a woman. Hear new research on Williams's life that examines fresh historical information about this compelling figure in Black history and acknowledges more recent insights on nonbinary and other LBGTQ+  identities. 

The Museum for Black Girls

WHEN: Open Wednesday–Sunday
WHERE: 500 16th Street Mall at the Pavilions
Winner of the Mayor’s Excellence in Innovation Award in 2024, this intimate — and fun — experiential museum on the city’s 16th Street Mall celebrates and shares the contributions of Black women throughout history and currently in ways both sincere and playful. Head for the second floor at the Pavilions for a mix of original artworks, curated exhibitions about heritage, and virtual and actual interactive displays. 

Arts of Africa Gallery

WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The Arts of Africa gallery showcases highlights from the museum’s collection, which encompasses about 800 objects, largely from the 19th and 20th centuries, across media — including painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and jewelry, as well as recent acquisitions of contemporary art. The updated presentation, spanning 2,300 square feet on level 4 of the Hamilton Building, offers a collection that illustrates the diversity, relevance, and dynamism of creativity and culture across Africa. The gallery presents an expansive and inclusive view of the arts from the African continent with works from the sub-Sahara, Egypt and North Africa organized around three anchoring themes: the self, power and transformation, and manifestation. You don’t have to spend a full afternoon contemplating Grafton Tyler Brown’s “Castle Geyser: Yellowstone,” but you could. Or you can visit that example of the early African American landscape artist’s oeuvre and then check out even more works in the museum’s collection by Black artists using the Denver Art Museum’s “Seen/Unseen: African Diaspora Across Collections” app. 

The Civil War Monument 'On Guard'

WHERE: History Colorado Center
Lonnie Bunch, the first African American and first historian to serve as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said, “what you really want to do is use the statues as teachable moments. Some of these need to go. But others need to be taken into a park, into a museum, into a warehouse, and interpreted for people, because they’re part of our history." Learn the backstory of this toppled Union soldier statue. 

Lincoln Hills: Mountain Sanctuary

WHERE: History Colorado Center
As part of its Colorado Stories efforts, History Colorado has expanded its exhibit on the African American resort near the South Boulder Creek, which provided a haven to prominent African Americans starting in the early 1920s. Re-opened last summer, Lincoln Hills: Mountain Sanctuary has added more oral histories, photographs, and examples of recreational wear "to expand visitors' understanding of Black recreation and travel during the segregation era.“

Black History Month Public Art Tour

WHERE: Various locations throughout Denver
Embark on a self-guided tour of public art by Black artists and works celebrating Black history. You’ll find art in many different forms, including colorful murals, sculptures, abstract paintings and mosaics — many by local artists. These works celebrate Black history in Denver, Colorado and the West.

Colorado Black Arts Festival

WHEN: July 10–12, 2026
WHERE: City Park
Colorado Black Arts Festival proudly presents its 38th annual celebration of African American art and culture. Enjoy a Colorado experience like no other in historic Denver City Park West.

Juneteenth Music Festival

WHEN: June 21, 2026
WHERE: Five Points
One of the nation’s largest Juneteenth celebrations, look for a parade, live performances, art, vendors and fun for the entire family.

Black American West Museum & Heritage Center

The Black American West Museum & Heritage Center (former home of Denver's first African American female physician, Justina Ford) celebrates Black history year-round! Check their website at bawmhc.org for both virtual and in-person events as they are announced. 

Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

The library serves as a neighborhood branch, a research library and museum in the Five Points neighborhood. It preserves and showcases the many contributions of African Americans to Colorado and the American West. Tours and programming for adults and families are available.

The Shop at Matter (Independent Bookstore)

Honoring, reflecting on and engaging with the history and culture of Black people as well as other BIPOC communities and deep, tender thought in general is a 365-days-a-year proposition at the storefront gem on the edge of greater Five Points. Graphic designer and printmaker artist Rick Griffith and his partner-in-life, Debra Johnson, have created the kind of place where you might overhear a young clerk talking to a customer about a book the way a homeopath might suggest a remedy. And isn’t reading a remedy of sorts? 

On a recent afternoon, that very clerk, 20-year-old Semira Mariam, walks through the store in search of examples of interesting Black history reads. They pull “The Black History Book” from a shelf. Aware that recommending the illustration-rich riff on the high points — part of the DK press’s “Big Ideas Simply Explained” series — might be too literal, they smile, then point out the cooler chapters. After paging through some of its key moments, they head over to the headiest section of the shop (and this is stiff competition for a place that carries Alain De Botton’s "The School of Life volumes,"  MIT’s Essential Knowledge series and a “Grind Culture & Detox” section). From a shelf, they pick a small, black-bound book. It’s the poet and essayist Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Trayvon Generation.” The portrait of a young boy in a blue-tinted photo looking out from the cover isn’t the only piece of art in the author’s meditation on history and culture, violence and resistance, art and solace. 

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance

This 55-year-old cross-cultural, contemporary dance institution rooted in African American traditions embodies the expansive cultural spirit of the diaspora. The company provides dance instruction, performances and community programs throughout the year. And their new building adjacent to the landmark Shorter A.M.E Church — the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Center for Arts and Healing — promises to provide a home for  film and theater as well. 

Welton Street Cafe

One of the more delicious ways to mark Black history is by celebrating the role food plays in it. “Food and gathering is the perfect love story for the Black community,”  said Fathima Dickerson, one of the family of owners of the Welton Street Café in Five Points. Dickerson, her parents and siblings fought tenaciously to make sure that the beloved restaurant would still have a home once it moved from a building nearer the convergences of streets that gave Five Points its name. “Food and gathering connects us to our history because it's about togetherness. This goes back to slavery and the ‘scraps’ African Americans were fed, but we were together, or during the Civil Rights Movement, where we gathered to unite and combat racism. Food and gathering for the Black community are about celebrating life, comfort and love. Welton Street Cafe keeps Black people connected through food and community.” 

Le French DTC Belleview Station and Le French 9&CO

These two bistros aren’t just an amazing sister act. Senegalese French chefs Aminata and Rougui Dia’s two restaurants are a celebration of how cultures come together, travel and transform. 

TeaLee’s Teahouse & Bookstore

High tea, art and books abound at TeaLee’s Teahouse, a quiet gem of a shop (thanks to owner Risë Jones) on the edge of Five Points.