Charles and Mildred Nilon, the first Black professor and first Black librarian at the University of Colorado Boulder, were selected by the Toni Morrison Society to receive Colorado’s first Bench by the Road installation to honor the couple’s accomplishments and legacy.
The Bench by the Road Project is an initiative of the Toni Morrison Society that aims to address the absence of public memorials acknowledging the lives and histories of enslaved Africans and their descendants. The Museum of Boulder submitted the proposal for a bench to honor the Nilons, and the installation marks the 35th Bench by the Road globally — and the first in Colorado.
“They did far more than just achieve important firsts,” said Juliette León Bartsch, who led the project for the Museum of Boulder. “The Nilons opened doors, they built bridges and expanded what is possible.”…