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Paul Wilbur Stewart (December 18, 1925 – November 12, 2015) was an American historian who founded the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center in 1971.
Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Paul 1925 births 2015 deaths African-American writers 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Museum founders Writers from Clinton, Iowa African-American historians Historians of the American West American people of Cherokee descent Writers from Denver People from Aurora, Colorado Writers from Evanston, Illinois Barbers United States Navy sailors Roosevelt University alumni Historians from Illinois Historians from Iowa 20th-century American male writers
Paul Wilbur Stewart (December 18, 1925 – November 12, 2015) was an American historian who founded the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center in 1971.
Biography
Stewart was born in Clinton, Iowa, to Eugene Joseph Stewart and Martha L. Stewart (née Moor). He served in the United States Navy upon graduating high school, and later settled in Evanston, Illinois, with his brother. Stewart worked at the local post office while attending Roosevelt University. However, he dropped out to help his brother with tuition. Stewart subsequently earned a license from Moler Barber College and worked as a barber in Illinois, Wisconsin, and New York. He moved to Denver in 1962, and opened another barber shop. With the help of his customers, Stewart began collecting Old West memorabilia shortly afterward. As the collection grew, it was moved multiple times. The museum was officially established as the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center in 1971 and located at 221 24th Street, where it spent one year before moving to the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Detroit Street. Stewart next moved his collection to the Clayton School for Boys in 1975. It was moved to the Five Points neighborhood in 1985, to a space on 26th and Welton Streets. The museum bought and moved into its permanent home, theJustina Ford
Justina Laurena Ford (January 22, 1871 – October 14, 1952) was an American physician. She was the first licensed African American female doctor in Denver, Colorado, and practiced gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics from her home for half a ...
residence on California Street and 30th Avenue, in 1988. The museum, billed as "the only Western-black-history museum in the world," highlights the history of African American's movement west and includes artifacts and pictorial histories of cowboys, farmers, ranchers, miners, Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee Airmen and the residents of the Five Points area. An exhibit dedicated to Ford remains on display in a room of the house.
Stewart was of African American and Cherokee descent, and a cousin of Earl Mann
Earl W. Mann (June 8, 1886 – 1969) was a state legislator in Colorado. The Denver Public Library has a collection of his papers.
He was born in Lyons, Iowa
Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The ...
, who served in the Colorado House of Representatives
The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distr ...
. He was married to Johnnie Mae Davis from 1986 to his 2015 death in Aurora, Colorado.
References
External links
Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Paul 1925 births 2015 deaths African-American writers 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Museum founders Writers from Clinton, Iowa African-American historians Historians of the American West American people of Cherokee descent Writers from Denver People from Aurora, Colorado Writers from Evanston, Illinois Barbers United States Navy sailors Roosevelt University alumni Historians from Illinois Historians from Iowa 20th-century American male writers