Intersecting Blackdom, New Mexico

An Evening with Dr. Timothy E. Nelson

with special guest Gregory Waits

“Racial illusions have fractured our collective conscience. Molding a new future from the broken pieces of Racism must begin with a new conversation. Intersectionality has become the panacea for a community cohesion after the perversion of diversity. However, intersectionality is only as productive as the intersection. The Blackdom Thesis is a new frontier thesis that inspires new conversations that have the capacity to explore the full spectrum of community dialogue.

The history of Blackdom plays a major role in understanding modern New Mexico. At the turn of the 20th Century, Southern New Mexico was one of the fastest growing regions in the world with grand irrigation projects and the influx of railroads. Black non-Hispanic peoples, from various parts of Texas and the South, understood the opportunity in the New Mexico Territory. Black migrants saw the opportunity in the space between the racism of New Mexico and no Jim Crow laws to completely rig the systems of the government against them.

Race in the Borderlands has been fluid since the idea of race was imported to Mexico. What became New Mexico has been under a significant racialization process propagated by European descents seeking to dominate the territorial space. This ongoing conflict and contestation of indigenous lands is our inheritance. This series is to reopen the dialogue to rightfully include Black (non-Hispanic) people’s in the enchantment of New Mexico.” —Timothy E. Nelson, Ph.D.

~Special thanks to Matthew Contos for making this event possible!