Need good news? Colorado mountain honoring governor who led Indigenous massacre renamed

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/16/colorado-mountain-renamed-blue-sky-indigenous-massacre

Colorado mountain honoring governor who led Indigenous massacre renamed

Members of US Board on Geographic Names vote to change name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue sky at request of tribes

Gloria Oladipo
@gaoladipo
Sat 16 Sep 2023 12.08 EDT

Federal US officials renamed a Colorado mountain that was previously named after a disgraced governor of the state who led a massacre against Indigenous people. Members of the US Board on Geographic Names voted to change the name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky, at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.

The new name was approved on Friday during a Council of Geographic Name Authorities board meeting in Oregon, according to a press release from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. The new name holds significance for both tribes. The Arapaho are known as the Blue Sky people, and the Cheyenne tribe hold an annual ceremony that is called Blue Sky, the Associated Press reported.

The mountain, a nearly 15ft peak in south-west Colorado, was previously named after John Evans, the notorious state governor who instigated a massacre against Indigenous people in the 19th century.

Evans resigned in 1865 for his role in the Sand Creek massacre. During that massacre, more than 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people were killed in the Sand Creek that sits in a south-eastern region of Colorado. Most of those killed in the massacre were women, children and people who were elderly, the AP reported.

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