Photo credit Bureau of Land Management
This is the second of three posts designed to bring you a taste of the contributions African Americans have made to New Mexico history and culture. As I said yesterday, nothing in any of these posts is intended to be all-inclusive; it's merely a sepia-toned snapshot of three distinct points in the state's historical timeline that go too often unremarked and unremembered.New Mexico makes much of its triracial inclusion and harmony (which, truth be told, is not so much as an inch deep, but that's another diary). What isn't obvious to folks from elsewhere is that the three races to which it refers are, as they are known in the polite version of local parlance, "Anglos," "Hispanics," and "Indians." In most of the state, African Americans aren't even on the public radar screen (nor are Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders, people of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent, or those of Caribbean ancestry - but, again, that's another diary).
According to the 2010 census, African Americans constitute 12.6% of the national population. In New Mexico, that figure drops to a scant 2.1%. [Despite the fact that the U.S. stole this land from Mexico, which in turn had stolen it from the indigenous populations, 68.4% of New Mexico's total population comprises "Anglos," whether "Hispanic" or "non-Hispanic."]
African American history and culture are a bit of a unicorn in this state: occasionally reported, but mostly elusive, and largely invisible to all but those who actually go looking for it. And yet, Black Americans have a long and storied history in New Mexico, with a vibrant presence predating statehood by half a century. It's long past time for that presence to assume its rightful place in the state's past and present.
Come with me. I'm going to take you on a little tour of three New Mexico towns that play a role in African American history.
