On December 14, 1868, New Mexico Supreme Court Justice John P. Slough responds to Legislative Council censure from Col. William L. Rynerson, who was a member of the legislative assembly from Doña Ana County. Among the slurring remarks made, he noted that Rynerson was "a thief of the army,…
By Miguél A. Torrez The years following the 1846 Mexican-American War brought New Mexicans adversity through the loss of land and political exploitation by Anglo Americans. Many struggled to adapt to American ways. For others, it proved extremely challenging. The descendants of Nicolas de Espinosa were a Nuevomexicano family…
Trujillo, Miguel H. New Mexico Indian Civil Rights Pioneer By Gordon Bronitsky It is rare that one individual can be singled out for playing a decisive role in history. In the struggle for civil rights, names like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks have earned honored places. Another…
By Chris Cozzone* There is no other sport like boxing that tells the story of New Mexico. Though oftentimes virtual underdogs in its cyclical battles with the law, public opinion and racial tension, the sport has paralleled the state’s struggles and glories through the “wild west,” statehood, the great…
by Suzanne Stamatov In the early morning hours on Saturday, 2 February 1980, inmates at the Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe overwhelmed four correctional officers during a routine inspection in one of the dormitories. These inmates immediately took the officers hostage and then ran to another dormitory…
1 By Robert Torrez New Mexico's history is full of marvelous stories about ordinary people who happen to end up in the historical record when they get caught up in extraordinary circumstances. As we leaf through the stories of such individuals, one often wonders how much of what has…
By David Correia From February 1889 until the summer of 1891 a clandestine organization of night riders known as Las Gorras Blancas cut the fences and burned the barns of ranchers enclosing the Las Vegas Land Grant commons and destroyed railroad ties and burned bridges in a related effort…
By William H. Wroth In 1855 New Mexico territorial governor David Meriwether made treaties with, among other tribes, both the Mescalero Apaches and the Navajos. Although the U.S. Congress did not ratify these treaties, they served to inaugurate a brief period of peaceable relations between the United States and…
By Lauren Gray Though the Spanish and later the Mexican government had their own delicate relationships with traders in the Southwest and New Mexico, the American trader has had arguably the greatest impact on Navajo indigenous economy, livelihood and culture. Over the past 150 years, the traders’ presence has…
By Robert Torrez Former New Mexico State Historian On the morning of September 24th, 1896, two condemned prisoners were led out of the Rio Arriba County jail in the northern New Mexico village of Tierra Amarilla. Moments before, the two men had received the Last Rites from the…
