Ralph L. Carr was born in Rosita, Colorado. His family later moved to Cripple Creek, where Carr graduated in 1905 from Cripple Creek High School. He went on to earn a law degree, and in 1929 was appointed U.S. Attorney for Colorado. In 1938, Carr was elected Governor of Colorado. He had always supported the rights of minorities and working-class people. And their votes helped him get elected.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order authorizing the forced evacuation of people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent into internment camps in a number of states, including Colorado. Governor Carr’s public opposition to this removal was not well received. Carr knew that most American families had origins outside the U.S. and that America was indeed a culturally diverse nation. His stand spelled his political ruin.
”There is no place here for the man who thinks that his people or those who speak his language are in turn entitled to preference over any others.” —— Governor Ralph Carr, 1942
Erected 2025 by Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, Cripple Creek District Museum.
