The History of Blackdom, NM 1903-1930
Blackdom was the first Black homesteader colony in New Mexico.
A short-lived yet thriving community of Black Educators, Farmers, Artisans, Business People, Freemasons, Homesteaders and Buffalo Soldiers. Blackdom was a beacon of Black Sovereignty, Ingenuity and Community success. The links below connect you to various scholars and historians stories of this important part of New Mexico’s Black history.
A collection of Press Articles and Additional Resources about Blackdom,
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Blackdom and the Black Town Movement
by Shea Aisha Winsett
In this paper, I agree with these practitioners and advocate for African American archaeology to explore the Black towns of the American West late emerged during the late nineteenth century. Furthermore, I propose that one way to understand these sites by engaging in discussions on race and class through the frameworks of Black feminist archaeology, consumerism and the Black intellectual framework of W.E.B Du Bois’s notion of double consciousness, to understand how late-nineteenth century African Americans constructed ideas of Blackness in freedom. For this paper I will be using the ghost town of Blackdom, the first Black town in New Mexico in as a case study.
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Archeology Report on Blackdom
by REGGE WISEMAN
In the summers of 1996 and 1997, the Office of Archaeological Studies conducted archaeological and historical investigations at five sites along U.S. 285 between Roswell and Carlsbad for the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department. The sites include the Isaac W. Jones homestead (LA 89153) in the former Blackdom Community near Roswell.
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Patent Maps and Land Survey
by Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico.
The Blackdom Story Map highlights the history of The first all-black settlement in New Mexico. Blackdom was incorporated in 1903 and occupied until the mid-1920s by up to 300 people. Blackdom had a school, post office and several churches during this time. This map was developed by the Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC) and NMRGIS using open data and information.
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Blackdom: Interpreting the Hidden History of New Mexico's Black Town
by Austin J. Miller
Blackdom settlers practiced a variety of agricultural methods, including dry farming and irrigation from shallow wells, but drought eventually doomed this unique community. This study engages Blackdom’s history through three distinct lenses: community, race, and environment. It explores how Blackdom was envisioned and created, discusses the role of race in both internal and external perceptions of the community, examines the volatile environment of the Pecos Valley that contributed to Blackdom’s collapse, and connects this hidden history to memorial attempts that emerged nearly a century after Blackdom was established.
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PBS "Colores" Presents BLACKDOM
from PBS
Blackdom is the virtually untold story of Black pioneers Frank and Ella Boyer dream to create a "colony" for Black people in the prairie of Southeastern New Mexico. It was a community of 300 people, "The Only Exclusive Negro Settlement in New Mexico" as the official township letterhead stated. Blackdom existed in New Mexico from 1908 to the mid-1920.
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Black Communities in New Mexico
JEFF BERG AND M. A. WALTON
Quest for Freedom: Early Black settlements made a dream come true.