Announcing 2025 Fall Webinar Series “The Sand Creek Massacre Remembered: Truth-Telling as a Path to Healing”
This two-part webinar series will be an opportunity to learn about the Sand Creek Massacre, the importance of truthful history telling, and explore what it means to speak truth to power.
Background
In the early morning hours of November 29, 1864, the Third Colorado Cavalry, made up of 675 men under the command of Colonel John Chivington, a Methodist minister and political opportunist, attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment in the bend of Big Sand Creek located in southeastern Colorado Territory. The attack lasted for eight hours, resulting in the deaths of approximately 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people, most of whom were women, children, and the elders.
The United Methodist Book of Resolutions #4263, United Methodist Response to the Sand Creek Massacre, states “we acknowledge that too often in the past and yet today, Christian individuals and the Church as an institution have been agents of death rather than protectors of life. Clergy and lay leaders who were trained, respected, and honored by the Methodist Episcopal Church used their influences through the church, the government, and the military, in ways that caused profound harm to Indian people at Sand Creek, including killing nearly 200 peaceful Indians camped under the protection of the US government and desecrating the bodies of the slain. We acknowledge that leading up to the massacre, during the massacre, and in the aftermath of the massacre, representatives of the Church utterly failed to uphold gospel values of respect for human life.”
As spiritual descendants, we are called to continue the journey of truth-telling, repentance, and healing in relationship with the descendants of the Sand Creek Massacre.
The Fall 2025 Webinar Series
Church and Society invites you to participate in its Fall 2025 Webinar Series, “The Sand Creek Massacre Remembered: Truth-Telling as a Path to Healing.”
This two-part webinar series will be an opportunity to learn about the Sand Creek Massacre, the importance of truthful history telling, and to explore what it means to speak truth to power.
*Registration is required for each webinar in the series.
Webinar One:
Date/Time: November 18, 2025 (Tuesday) at 2:00 PM-3:15 PM ET
Speaker: Professor Ari Kelman, Chancellor’s Leadership Professor of History at UC Davis. Author of “A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling over the Memory of Sand Creek.”
Webinar Two:
Date/Time: November 20, 2025 (Thursday) at 2-3:15 PM (ET)
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Nancy Niero, ordained in the United Church of Christ is the author of “Witness at Sand Creek: The Life and Letters of Silas Soule.”
This webinar series accompanies the Sand Creek Massacre Exhibit from History Colorado, which will be on display at the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., from November 10 to December 1, 2025. The exhibit will be open to the public with free timed-entry tickets for learning and reflection.
Learn more and reserve your free timed-entry ticket at the exhibit page.
