NMSU students learn research and local Black history

We can learn a lot from the experiences of Harvey Fielder, who lived in Las Cruces during the desegregation era or the growth of the New Mexico State University gospel choir that originally formed in 1975 under the direction of Andrew Wall.

The actions of the Civil Rights Commission in New Mexico between 1956 and 1975 and the creation of the Black History program at NMSU are other subjects whose back stories carry immense meaning. Another student centered his research on Garland E. Allen, an African American police officer in Alamogordo in 1968.

The youth in White Sands got personal coaching from an NBA star while Sam Jones served in the U.S. Army at White Sands Proving Ground. The former Boston Celtic shared his love of basketball with the kids in White Sands as an assistant coach and summer-time instructor. 

These and other stories about Black life in New Mexico and in the Borderlands region are currently on display at the NMSU Branson Library. The archival exhibit is the work of a dozen students in history professor Laura Hooton’s African American History: 1865 to the Present course. This semester’s class focus was African American experiences in the American West since 1865.

This was the first time many of these students, some of whom are history majors, learned to dive into historical records and find the amazing stories that are to be found there. They learned about the struggles of the Black community through the writings of those who experienced it and from historical records. They gained a deeper understanding of culture and race that have continued to impact this country.

Hooton really had a couple of core competencies in mind with this as a major project for her students.

“I think it's the skills I wanted them to come away with was, first of all, kind of how you deal with material and sources,” Hooton said. “If you read something, how do you know how to analyze it and figure it out?

“The second skill was writing for a general audience and being able to explain a very complex historical topic in a way that would be lasting and understandable and have a message. Not just this person was born at this point, died at this point, did this thing, but I really pushed them to have some sort of takeaway when someone reads what they wrote.”

She loves the fact that her students were pursuing stories that are much less known.

“I want them to understand that everyone's got a history and everyone has a past right and looking at individual people or individual organizations, especially the ones that are not well known reminds them that it's not just a handful of big name folks that are part of history, it's everyone," Hooton said.

Oral histories

One student, senior Guinivere Mayse, had a research experience that was unique. Mayse, who is nearing graduation with a double major in history and art history has a particularly personal interested in LGBTQ issues.

Her desire was to the tell the story of Black queer history in the region, but she found nothing in the archives with which to work. She turned her creative energy into a living history and delivered her presentation on author Brian Lush. Her research was first-hand, an education in gathering oral history.

“I really wanted to focus in on queer black voices in New Mexico,” she said. “When I went into the archives, there was just about nothing. There was no correspondence. There was nothing I could say with 100% certainty, this was a queer person living in New Mexico living the American dream.”

She ended up at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where she went to the LGBTQ archive at the Bennett Hammer Museum. Since she wasn’t a student, that archive was off limits, so she ended up tracking down Bennett Hammer, which led her ultimately to Lush, the topic for her research.

Marissa Page researched former NMSU All-American football player Pervis Atkins. In the process, she uncovered some fun stories about his participation in an early episode of Saturday Night Live and some of his roles as an actor. 

“I learned about our athletic history, especially learning about how much he means to the football program,” Page said. “I wasn't even aware of it and so being able to shed light on it because he was so dominant during that time.”

Page, who is studying secondary education and wants to teach high school history, really enjoyed the search for information even though it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes it was like looking for one needle in a large haystack.

“I enjoyed going into the archives and actually getting to physically find things,” she said. “It was like kind of like a clue search for the information because I found out that Pervis Atkins was actually a producer and actor because of just a single paper in one of the archive boxes. I think it was just super fun to be able to hold something tangible at the time and then be able to implement it into a present time as well.”

One of the great learning experiences for the students during this project was a lesson in being concise. They had to condense their findings down to just 200 words of text and a couple of photos. In addition to Atkins’ athletic prowess, Page most wanted to make sure the people who see her research know that he was a 4.0 student.

Students were excited at the exhibit’s opening reception. That provided them a chance to meet and greet not only people who have interest in local Black history, but also family members connected to the stories they shared. Hooton saw the light come on for many of her students related to history, and Black history in particular.

“Lacey (Raykovics) had no idea that Sam Jones had played for the Celtics,” Hooton said. “That was literally the last thing she found out. It was a couple weeks before the end of the semester.”

Each student had a similar moment during the process.

“For some the moment was last night (at the exhibit opening), where they realized this is a big deal,” Hooton said. “There was a lot of moments of, ‘I didn't realize there was this big weightiness behind it, and this big picture.’

I think that was because they were pushed to really put it in context.”

The presentations also allowed Hooton to teach her students about public communication as they prepared to greet the 150 people who came through that opening night to see their exhibits.

The exhibit is currently located in the lobby on the first floor of the Branson Library. It will be moved to Zuhl Library at the beginning of February for Black History Month.