The University of Denver was founded in 1864, and is known for its history of being the oldest private University in Colorado. DU’s branding, athletic team nicknames, and mascots are strongly connected to its ties to its identity as the oldest private university. The long living mascot and identification of the University is the “pioneers”; most commonly referred to as the “Denver Pioneers”. However, there has been much talk over the years about eliminating and altering the long-lived nickname that stands with the University due to its history and long-enabled connection between DU’s land and the Sand Creek Massacre. In the Sand Creek massacre, more than 160 Arapahoe and Cheyenne people, most of whom were women, children,…show more content… They are employed in cutting down trees, and making the roads..for the army to march.” Pioneer seemed to just be an identification of someone who completes a job, not necessarily good, not necessarily bad. Between 1552 and 1798, pioneer was used in its simplified definition of, “a person employed as a digger or excavator; a miner, a quarrier”. Sense 1.b. The second sense of pioneer is in Scottish, “piner”,“a laborer or porter” (1543-1666). It didn’t necessarily have a specification for the type of labor, just in terms of someone who produces goods, such as in the OED where it draws from R.S. Mylne, Master Masons to Crown of Scotland, “Four good able barrowmen pioneers skillful to make mortar and bear stones.” Progressing into the 17th century up to the 19th century, pioneers then began to be used as a description for, “A person who goes before others to prepare or open up the way; one who begins, or takes part in beginning, some enterprise, course of action,” (Sense 3) It started to become a more widely used term. The word pioneer did not seem to have a negative connotation, in fact it seemed to be the opposite; something that people aspired to be and were honored to be. As we can see in Landfall:…show more content… 5 278, (1947) “Miss Dane..imagined herself a pioneer of progress in a wayback community.” It's interesting to note that this was in reference to a woman, where as we have seen throughout the previous examples of pioneer in reference to only laborers and masculine figures, so we see progression in the roles of gender as well and the broad sense of pioneer being a word for those seeking to prepare the ways for others. This shift seems to be the most significant in the usage of the word pioneer. There is then a significant shift between definitions, as it becomes a historical point of reference when using the term “pioneer”. “A person who is amongst the first to explore or settle in a new country, territory, or region; an early colonist or settler...”, and according to the OED, “...Now chiefly historical”. (Sense 4.a) In 1922, in Fought & Won 1, J. Lewis wrote, “My parents were pioneers and landed in South Australia in 1836.” From the analysis of the progression of the word pioneer, the early aspects of this word and its reference were all considered positive. To be a pioneer was seen as an accomplishment and something that showed the aspect of a character that is willing to take risks and
