The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

Clara Brown was an enslaved Black woman born at the start of the 19th century. She grew up enslaved to a family in Kentucky. She married a man she loved and had four children, including twins Paulina and Eliza. Tragically, Paulina drowned when the twins were eight years old, and soon after, Clara’s enslaver died. Her family was separated when they were sold along with his estate. Clara spent 20 years cooking and cleaning for her new enslaver and trying to learn what had become of her family. Her husband, son, and eldest daughter died, but no one knew what had happened to Eliza, and Clara continued to hope for a reunion.

Clara was freed at 56 and moved first to St. Louis, Missouri, and then to Kansas. From Kansas, she traveled farther West in search of her missing daughter. She joined a caravan and walked the entire 700-mile journey to Colorado. Although she was nearly 60, she was tall, strong, and determined. In Colorado, Clara settled in Central City, which was nothing more than a collection of “barely habitable shacks.” Again, Clara wasn’t intimidated or dissuaded, and she immediately went to work building relationships and fostering community. She saved a small fortune from her laundry business and became known far and wide as the “Angel of the Rockies” for her kindness and tendency to always lend a helping hand.