Fifty for 150: Chicano students in Denver lead ‘blowouts’ in 1969 seeking representation in school

Chicano and Chicana students at Denver’s West High School on March 20, 1969, led what became one of Colorado’s largest and most violent school protests after district leadership took no action to address students’ concerns about discrimination in the classroom.

This story is part of Colorado at 150. Each Fifty for 150 story focuses on an event that helped define Colorado over 150 years of statehood. Newsline is publishing one Fifty for 150 story every weekday in reverse chronological order until the sesquicentennial, Aug. 1, when the final of 50 stories, about the declaration of statehood, will appear.

The “blowouts,” as they were called, marked one of the defining moments of El Movimiento, the Chicano civil rights movement in Denver and beyond, during the national wave of activists fighting for civil rights in the 1960s. 

At the start of March, Chicano students presented a list of demands to the Denver school board. They wanted their culture and language to be included in the school curriculum, greater awareness of their culture among teachers, and inclusion of Chicano literature in the school library. Students also asked the district to fire Harry B. Shafer, a social studies teacher who “proved to be a racist teacher.” 

Crusade for Justice, a Denver group Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales founded that fought for Chicano rights, helped the students organize the protest. Gonzales’ daughter, Nita, participated in the school walkout. 

Law enforcement agencies including the FBI considered Crusade for Justice to be radical, so police prepared to show up to the walkout once the group decided to support the students. 

Students marched from their school to a neighboring high school, where more students joined in. But when they marched back to school, 30 Denver police officers in full riot gear awaited the protest’s return. 

Violent altercations between the students and the police ensued. 

“Students started tumbling over,” Nita Gonzales told CPR while recounting the day. “They were grabbing me by my hair, by my shirts and coats and then my dad and the other adults got upset and tried to intervene and as a result, they were getting beat up.”

Police arrested 26 people at the protest. Officers used pepper spray on many of the students and other protesters. 

The next day, the protest grew even larger, with students from other Denver schools joining their West High peers. Some accounts say more than 1,200 students protested on March 21. Demonstrations continued for four days. 

The district did not fire Shafer, but it transferred him to another school. Then-Denver Public Schools Superintendent Robert D. Gilberts agreed to update the school curriculum, and eventually more Latino teachers started working at the school. 

Shortly after the blowouts, Crusade for Justice held its first youth liberation conference, which drew 1,500 young Chicano people to Denver. 

West High School held a series of events and exhibitions in honor of the 50th anniversary of the blowouts in 2019.