Black Education Advisory Council

First BEA Advisory committee meeting on 12/04/2021- is NOT LISTed ON BEA website

New Mexico PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

Anti-racism training for educators, a culturally inclusive curriculum, and a hotline for reporting school-based incidents of racial bias are among the strategies to be implemented in the coming school year to meet requirements of the New Mexico Black Education Act, which takes effect July 1.

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New Mexico PED BEA Publicity

The New Mexico Legislature is considering a bill that would support African American education

New culturally inclusive strategies will be implemented in New Mexico schools

PED Establishes Black Education Advisory Council

HB43-924 Jan 26, 2021 Legislative Session

Our organization notes ongoing concerns with the exclusion, misuse, and infringement of Dr. Nelson's work by the Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Roswell "Black" communities, highlighting a lack of transparency and open critique. Despite efforts, individuals like Vickie Bannerman, Hakim Bellamy, Rita Powdrell, Nikesha Breeze, and Gregory Waits have shown limited engagement. For instance, in 2019, Dr. Nelson's invitations to collaborate on a panel for the 2020 Western History Conference were declined or ignored, with Gregory Waits withdrawing last minute but managing to feature his presentation through Austin Miller, Ph.D. Candidate, Southern Methodist University, Interpreting Blackdom (UNM master’s thesis).

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Nikesha Breeze contacted Dr. Nelson through Facebook Messenger, he relayed a request to coordinate with his business partner, Marissa Roybal, for a scheduled call that did not occur. The NMSU Art Museum misused Dr. Nelson’s work on their exhibit and website, incorrectly citing him and linking his website to Nikesha's without permission. Marisa Sage of NMSU permitted the inadequate and unauthorized use of his work. Further, the Earthseed Black Arts Alliance and NMSU Art Museum shared a map with Dr. Nelson’s watermark on social media without crediting him, missing an opportunity to acknowledge his contributions. At the NMSU opening, Nikesha discussed Blackdom Oil without crediting Dr. Nelson, a pattern repeated during the Blackdom Panel discussion. Despite expressing gratitude for Dr. Nelson’s contributions, Nikesha did not seek his permission or involve him in discussions.

Following complaints, NMSU made some corrections, including removing the unauthorized website link and attempting to correct Dr. Nelson's name. They also opted to delete two Instagram posts instead of crediting Dr. Nelson. However, Nikesha again failed to acknowledge him during an Instagram Live event when she mentioned Blackdom Oil. Additionally, another Taos artist contacted Dr. Nelson highlighting Nikesha wearing what appears to be a Blackdom Illuminated T-shirt gifted by Dr. Nelson’s team.

An interview with Dr. Nelson by the Taos Center for the Arts was never published, suspected to have been shared with Nikesha in preparation for the NMSU event. At the Albuquerque Museum exhibit in 2022, project manager Hakim Bellamy and Rita Powdrell did not include Dr. Nelson in installations related to New Mexico Black Homestead history. The Albuquerque Museum later offered an event tied to the publication of Dr. Nelson’s book, but no further communication was received after reaching out in 2023.

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BEA Advisory Council Members that have been in our circles of influence: Timothy Nelson, Los Alamos; Hakim Bellamy, Albuquerque; Nancy Lopez, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Patricia Trujillo, deputy cabinet Secretary, NM Higher Education Department; Vernon Oliver, Rio Rancho; Arlen Nelson, Kimberly York, Las Cruces; Nicole Bedford, Albuquerque; Sheryl F. Means, Albuquerque.

by Christina Stock

Friday, February 27, 2021

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“An online seminar hosted by the New Mexico Humanities Council (NMHC) on the historical township Blackdom on Feb. 23 attracted 87 participants. The audience was able to learn about the latest research and insights into the cultural and historical significance of the township of Blackdom, founded in 1903, 18 miles south of Roswell and 8 miles west of Dexter. By the mid-1920s, most residents had left, turning Blackdom into a ghost town."

Bethany Tabor, NMHC program officer, served as the moderator. She introduced the speakers, which included Janice Dunnahoo of the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico (HSSNM) Archives in Roswell. Dunnahoo is a contributing author for the West Texas Historical Association, Wild West Journal, True West Magazine, Texas-New Mexico Border Archives Journal, and a weekly contributor to the Roswell Daily Record.”

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Clarence Fielder especially enjoyed sharing the early history of the African-American community of Las Cruces, which centered around his own experiences as well as those of his parents and grandparents. Mr. Fielder was also instrumental in restoring the Phillips Chapel CME Church, founded by his grandparents Ollie and Daniel Hibler, which served as a school during segregation and was named to the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest existing African-American church in New Mexico.

The 12-minute story profiles Mr. Clarence Fielder, a beloved and dedicated teacher who grew up in Las Cruces and taught for many years in the public schools and in the Department of History at NMSU.

06:48 Executive Producer, Nan Rubin interviews Dr. Timothy E. Nelson who was one of Mr. Fielder’s students at New Mexico State University.

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KAYLA LAWRENCE
October 19, 2020

University of Northern Iowa's History Club Invites Alum Dr. Nelson to present his research of the Afro-Frontier in American history

August 30, 2021 - NARA Focuses on Expanding Access to Digital Records

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Dr. Richard Edwards haD been diligently working on this matter since 2008. See the link for his article below.

Richard Edwards is a primary leader in the “Homestead Records Project,” a consortium formed to digitize, preserve and make accessible approximately two million original homestead land-entry files.

This unfortunate decision would leave the important homesteading states of Colorado, Montana, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, New Mexico, Washington, and California back in the hard-to-access and costly-to-access paper records regime. I believe NARA’s decision is mistaken, and that it should be a HIGH priority to finish digitizing these records. Richard Edwards, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies, Professor of Economics, August 31, 2018

“They called it Blackdom for a reason. This was a Black Kingdom where sovereigns lived.”

—Timothy E. Nelson

Click to see Santa Fe New Mexican Article by Robert Nott

Some 60-plus years before African Americans marched and fought for equal treatment in the nation’s civil rights movement, Blackdom stood as a symbol that African Americans could be masters of their own destiny.

“Blackdom proved black people could thrive, not just survive,” said African American historian and author Timothy Nelson, who wrote a 200-page dissertation on the rise and fall of Blackdom in 2015 for the University of Texas at El Paso.

“They called it Blackdom for a reason. This was a Black Kingdom where sovereigns lived,” he said.

And yet, some 30 years after its founding in the early 1900s, Blackdom was all but abandoned, a victim of drought, nature and an oil boom gone bust because of the Great Depression.

Today, a plaque commemorating the history of Blackdom and a few stone ruins are all that remain of the original community, located about eight miles west of Dexter and 20 miles south of Roswell.

Blackdom’s fight for a self-sustaining life came decades before King urged African Americans to take to the streets to demand equality with such phrases as, “If you can’t fly then run if you can’t run then walk if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”