Within a pristine glass display case on the second floor of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, six little moccasins rest.

The tiny leather shoes are fitted for children’s feet. The three on the bottom are worn by age, the color of the beads fading and the leather thinning. Above them, little moccasins no more than 5 years old, beads bursting with vibrant blues and whites and the buckskin still nearly stiff.

“Made by Cassandra Atencio for her Grandson Geovany, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, ca. 2020,” reads a placard below the newer moccasins. While the shoes were made more than a hundred years apart, both are familiar to the pitter-patter of toddlers.

For Crystal Rizzo, cultural preservation director of the Southern Ute Tribe, seeing the little imprints on the shoes worn over a century ago is a testament to perseverance.

“You can turn some of them over, and you can see the footprints,” Rizzo said. “These did belong to Ute people, it was a powerful experience, just that these were actually a person’s worn shoes. That’s really amazing.”

The moccasins are just a small part of the Pioneers Museum’s new, permanent exhibit showcasing the history and culture of the Ute Peoples in the Pikes Peak region. Titled “Until Forever Comes: This is Ute Homeland,” this effort has been five years in the making. The exhibit tells the stories of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray Reservation — in their own words.

“One of the things I absolutely love is that it’s a tri-Ute project. So this isn’t just Southern or just Ute Mountain or just the Ute Indian Tribe. It’s all three of us. All three of us are really well represented in this exhibit,” Rizzo said.

The gallery highlights a blend of contemporary pieces with the past, leaving a clear message that the Ute People are still here and thriving, Rizzo said. Along one wall, a collage of photos places present-day tribe members side by side ancestors, portrayed in historic black and white images. The pictures mirror each other, showing the continuation of tradition over centuries of challenges.

Several of the individuals on the colorful contemporary end are friends and relatives of Rizzo. She chuckles, pointing and naming faces she recognizes.

But the photos are also a reminder that the fight remains.

“We’re still continuing to carry on and fight for our rights, for access to resources, and fighting for treaty rights,” she said.

That spirit of perseverance is painted on the right wall of the room: a timeline of a painful history, of settlers trying to erase and eradicate the Nuuchiu-Ute People. Antiquated signs line the wall, with racist drawings and phrases like “The Utes Must Go.” A scrapbook of newspaper clippings details the bloody battles for Ute lands.

These harsh realities of the past are important to talk about, especially in Colorado, Rizzo said. A graduate of UCCS, she recalls how few classmates even knew that this is the homeland of the Ute. It can be difficult to reckon with, Rizzo said, but it’s still vital to recognize that tragedies occurred here, too.

“That needs to be stated — there were campaigns right here [in Colorado] — because I think sometimes we can sort of disassociate ourselves from, well, ‘That’s not really our history,’ but it really did happen right here,” Rizzo said. “It’s important to have that be part of this, in terms of noting this did happen, and look at how we’re still thriving.”

As you venture through the exhibit, you’ll find that some older pieces are attributed to “Artist Once Known.” Why that distinct attribution?

“These are our relatives, these are the people that were once known to us, and we may not know them now, or their specific name, but they’re still part of us. They’re part of our tribe, our people,” Rizzo said. “So I think that’s really important to not say they aren’t known. The Creator knows who that person is. The Earth knows who that person that name is. And I think that’s really important to not just disappear them.”

As for the building of the exhibit, since 2020 museum experts have been working with the three Ute tribes to piece together their story.

“It’s about us listening, and it’s about us facilitating their story in this space,” said Leah Davis Witherow, the museum’s curator of history. “This exhibit is permanent, and that means this exhibit will be up for decades and it may change over time, but these are their stories, told in their words.”

The experience of the Ute Peoples isn’t just told through objects at the exhibit, but through the work to preserve their language, Rizzo said. The Ute language is central to the cultural curriculum at the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s Montessori Academy to educate younger generations.

Work from current Ute artists is showcased throughout the room, from pottery to woven baskets to intricate beadwork. Having the pieces together in the same space really shows the breadth of Ute artistry, Rizzo said, and it’s special to see that younger generations are interested in carrying on the culture.

At the end of the exhibit, adjoined to the wall detailing the displacement of the Ute Peoples, is a statement. The phrase, surrounded by photos of celebrations and gatherings across generations, is short, but meaningful:

“We are still here.”