A Legacy of Love - The Life of Clara Brown
Friday, June 7, 2024
Clara Brown Commons
10:00 AM - 11:30AM
The life and legacy of Clara Brown is foundational to knowing the Histories of Christianity in our City.
Histories of Christianity in our City is co-hosting this event with Denver Institute at Clara Brown Commons on the life and legacy of Clara Brown.
Clara Brown reflects both enduring heartache and hope through the early history of Christianity in Denver. To be a leader rooted in the Christian faith in our city is to build on the foundation she laid as a business leader, faith leader, and philanthropist. Jeff Johnsen of Mile High Ministries gives a glimpse of her legacy:
“Aunt Clara” was a Colorado pioneer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who understood that we are all connected to one another like branches on a vine. After nearly sixty years in bondage, Clara came to Colorado in search of her family and became the heart and soul of her community. She cared for the sick and destitute, built churches, spent her own fortune to help former slaves attend college or start new lives in Colorado, all the while building a successful business, resisting discrimination, and searching for the family from whom she had been separated by enslavement. We hope that living at Clara Brown Commons will help us be connected the way Clara was, and follow her example of compassion, generosity and neighborly love.” Mile High Ministries
A Legacy of Love - The Life of Clara Brown
Coffee & Pastries
Scratch Bakery - served from 9:45am
Welcome to Clara Brown Commons
Jill Gilley - Mile High Ministries
Ross Chapman - Denver Institute
Welcome to the Histories of Christianity in Our City
MiDian Holmes - The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership
Jared Mackey - The Sacred Grace
A Legacy of Love - The Life of Clara Brown
Personal: Dr. Keena Day - Educator, Author, Poet
Entrepreneurial: Zaneta Kelsey - Access Mode
Faith: Jeff Johnsen - Mile High Ministries
Freedom: Jeff Campbell - Emancipation Theatre
An Invitation to Participation
MiDian Holmes - Co-Director, Histories of Christianity in our City
Jared Mackey - Co-Director, Histories of Christianity in our City
Parking: Please park on the street around Russell Square Park, located just to the southwest of Clara Brown Commons. Parking at CBC is for residents only. Thank you.
SPEAKERS
Zaneta Kelsey
Zaneta Kelsey is a business strategist who has worked with some of the world’s largest tech companies to bring new and unique solutions to the market.
Zaneta is passionate about diversity in talent and in thought. She is the co-founder and CEO of Access Mode, a business accelerator that cultivates founders of color along their entrepreneurial journey. She welcomes opportunities to elevate underserved and underrepresented groups.
Zaneta most enjoys being wife to Derrick and mother to Andrew and Zachary.
Keena Day
Dr. Keena Day is an educator, writer and poet. She has been an educator for 20 years. She is a frequent presenter at conferences and community events focused on Black women’s empowerment, politics, Black history and literature, and equitable instruction.
Dr. Day is a freelance writer and journalist writing for several media outlets. She is an active community advocate serving on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission for Commerce City, Colorado and is a board member of the NAACP Denver Branch and the Colorado Women for Political Action (CBWPA).
Jeff Johnsen
Jeff Johnsen has been the executive director of Mile High Ministries since its founding in 1988. Jeff and Heidi originally moved to Denver with friends to play in a band and were surprised to fall in love with our city—its neighborhoods, history, and people. They raised their kids, and now grandkids, on the East side.
Jeff is an ordained member of the Street Psalms Community, an international communion of leaders called to seek peace and the underlying unity of all things within the rich and sometimes challenging diversity of our urban contexts.
Jeff Campbell
Jeff Campbell is a storytelling coach, playwright and narrative strategist. He is also the founder and director of Emancipation Theater Company.
He has been a part of Denver's creative community for over two decades as a pioneering Hip Hop and spoken word artist. In 2015, he was named one of Westword's 100 Colorado Creatives.