Clara Brown (1800-1885) was known as the “Angel of the Rockies”. As one of the first Black women to settle in Colorado, she helped create a sense of family for a whole community – even after she’d lost her own.
Clara Brown (1800-1885) was known as the “Angel of the Rockies”. As one of the first Black women to settle in Colorado, she helped create a sense of family for a whole community – even after she’d lost her own.
Food has been a unifier for millennia, not just gathering people together to share a meal, but acting as a warm introduction to new histories and traditions. This February on Womanica, we’re celebrating Tastemakers - the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past. The impact of chefs like Pig Foot Mary, Mama Dip, and Georgia Gilmore stretch far beyond the culinary scene - uplifting their local communities and inspiring those who came after them.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hi! I'm Chef Kia Damon.
I'm a Florida born chef, writer, host and recipe developer. I served as an executive Chef of New York City restaurant Lalito at the age of 24 and became Cherry Bombe magazine's first Culinary Director at 25. Since leaving I've founded Kia Feeds The People, a budding mutual aid effort. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we're talking about Tastemakers. We're celebrating the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past.
Today, we’re talking about the “Angel of the Rockies”. As one of the first Black women to settle in Colorado, she helped create a sense of family for a whole community – even after she’d lost her own.
Let’s talk about Clara Brown.
Clara Brown was born enslaved, in Virginia, around the year 1800. When she was 18, Clara married a man named Richard. She and her husband had four children – Richard Jr., Margaret and a pair of twins – Paulina and Eliza Jane. When their enslaver died in 1835, the whole family was separated. Clara, Richard and their children were each sold to a different plantation.
Clara tried desperately to keep track of her shattered family. Her daughter, Margaret, died. So did her husband. Two of her other children, Richard and Eliza Jane, were sold so many times that Clara couldn’t keep up. But for the rest of her life, she was driven by the hope that she’d see them again.
For years, Clara worked at the same plantation. Then in 1856, the owner died, and Clara was finally able to buy her freedom.
By this point, Clara was well into her 50s. She heard rumors that her surviving daughter, Eliza Jane, had headed out west. So she became determined to set out for the frontier. But as a Black woman, Clara wasn’t allowed to buy a stagecoach ticket. So she found passage another way: by leaning into her talent for cooking. She joined a group of prospectors heading to Colorado as their cook, and walked much of the 700 miles next to their wagon.
Sadly, when Clara got to Denver, she didn’t find Eliza. To keep up her search, she needed…money. It was the height of the Gold Rush. Thousands of gold seekers from across the country had flooded into the western hills. Ramshackle communities dotted the landscape, built around saloons, tents, mines and shacks that housed whole families.
Clara was one of the first Black women who made it out to mining country. And her cooking skills were now worth their weight in gold. She catered special events, and sold meals to other settlers. She set up a few different businesses, including Denver’s first commercial laundry business. She invested in real estate.
In Denver, Clara came to be known as “Aunt Clara” – a surrogate mother to folks who needed family. She nursed hurt miners, delivered babies, housed those without homes.
Clara started her community’s first Sunday School. She gave money to four different churches. When the Colorado Pioneers Association was established, they invited her to join. Out of 400 members, Clara was the only woman.
By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, Clara had saved up a huge sum: $10,000.
Okay, she had the money. Now it was time to return to her search for her daughter, Eliza.
Clara began traveling back east, to Kentucky and Tennessee. Still no Eliza. But Clara found other family members who were newly freed. She ended up helping 26 relatives settle in Colorado.
In 1873, a fire ripped through Central City, a town just west of Denver where Clara had settled. Her home, and several other properties, burned down. But the community that Clara had helped nurture was there for her. They came together, and bought her a cottage in Denver.
In 1882, Clara finally got the news she’d been waiting over 40 years to hear: her daughter, Eliza, was alive. Clara traveled to Iowa, where she reunited with Eliza.. The women traveled back to Colorado together, and for the last three years of her long life, Clara spent her time surrounded by family.
All month, we’re talking about tastemakers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
As always, we’re taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday!