DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Denver 

News: The Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame has a trio of new inductees.

They include:

• Gary Jackson, a semi-retired Denver County Court judge
• Rev. Leon Kelly, director of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives
• The late Zipporah Parks Hammond, the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Colorado School of Nursing, 

They were inducted during a virtual ceremony that also honored recipients of the Denver Public Library’s 2022 Juanita Gray Community Service Award. The awards are part of the Denver Public Library’s observance of Black History Month. 

Jackson, who is now a semi-retired senior judge, credits his great-grandfather, William Pitts, for inspiring him to expand opportunities for Blacks in the legal field. Pitts opened the doors of opportunity for Blacks in real estate.

Jackson’s 50-year legal career includes joining the Denver District Attorney’s office in 1970, where he was the only Black deputy district attorney. He served as assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado and helped found the Sam Cary Bar Association and created its scholarship endowment, which to date has awarded some $325,000 to deserving Black law students. 

In 2021, he was inducted into the National Bar Association’s Fred Gray Hall of Fame. 

Kelly has worked tirelessly to guide young people, encouraging them to stay in school and engage in positive activities that keep them away from the gang life that often ends in injury or death.  

Through Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives, the oldest anti-gang program in the Denver metro area, Kelly offers educational programs to schools, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement and civic groups on how to suppress gang-related violence and recruitment. 

Hammond, who was 87 when she died in 2011, fought bigotry and racism, turning negative experiences into something positive. She was the only Black nursing student in the U.S. Nurse Corps in Colorado during World War II. 

In addition to encouraging other Black women to enter the nursing field, she volunteered at Denver Public Library for 17 years, preserving and indexing photographs and artifacts that will keep memories of Denver’s Five Points neighborhood alive. 

The 2022 Juanita Gray Community Service Awards went to Viola Garlington, a retired healthcare administrator who worked tirelessly to help Black girls gain access to activities and experiences they would otherwise would not have been able to participate in. Jason Shankle, a poet and storyteller who is the owner and founder of Book King Publishing, was also honored with the award.