Historian resigns from New Mexico's Black Education Act Advisory Council

Feb. 6—A member of the state's new Black Education Advisory Council abruptly resigned late last month, citing his frustration over two museum exhibits he said were influenced by his research into Black history in New Mexico but failed to properly credit him.

Timothy E. Nelson, a historian and professor who lives in Los Alamos, according to the state, teaches remote courses at California State University, Stanislaus, and is known for his work on Blackdom, an early 20th-century African American settlement in Chaves County near Roswell. He published an extensive doctoral thesis on the community in 2015 at the University of Texas at El Paso.

One museum exhibit curator suggested Nelson's research is the kind that should appear in history books and his role on the Black Education Advisory Council, which first convened in December, could have helped foster such change.

Instead, Nelson became outraged in late January over art and history exhibits that had opened at the New Mexico State University Art Museum and the Albuquerque Museum, run by the city of Albuquerque.

"Both museum installations are different, and both use my research, and neither acknowledges my contributions," Nelson wrote in his Jan. 23 resignation letter to the New Mexico Public Education Department, which oversees the council. The department does not appear to have any connection with the museums or the exhibits.

"I am really upset to hear that you are being disrespected and feel you need to separate yourself from the council because of it," Deputy Public Education Secretary Vickie Bannerman wrote in an email to Nelson in response to his resignation. She offered to investigate the situation.

Created under the 2021 Black Education Act, the Black Education Advisory Council includes school administrators, parents, students and other community people and is tasked with advising the state on ways to improve education for Black students, one of smallest minority groups in New Mexico's public schools.

The law was approved in part to address an achievement gap. State data has shown the graduation rate for Black students in New Mexico is the second lowest among ethnic groups, just ahead of the rate for Native Americans. It also was aimed at preventing racism; promoting anti-racism policies and training for school staff; providing culturally relevant learning materials; and improving parent involvement.

An anti-racism and anti-oppression hotline required under the law — 800-717-4238 — was launched last month on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Judy Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Public Education Department, said the vacancy left by Nelson on the 23-member council will be discussed at a meeting scheduled Feb. 19.

Curators of the two exhibits that prompted Nelson's resignation said they were unaware of his concerns before he stepped down from the council and previously had received positive feedback from him on the installations.

The NMSU exhibit, Four Sites of Return: Ritual, Remembrance, Reparation & Reclamation, initially included a link to Nelson's thesis on a digital kiosk that also has links to other scholarly works on Blackdom. But he asked for the removal of the link to his work.

NMSU Art Museum Director Marisa Sage said his name also was recently listed on a "gratitude wall" at the art exhibit, following his request.

The exhibit features multimedia art pieces created by Nikesha Breeze, a Taos-based artist who is a descendant of Blackdom residents. Among her works is a 29-minute film called Stages of Tectonic Blackness: Blackdom that shows parts of an eight-hour dance performance on the land where Blackdom flourished before the Great Depression.

"I have great respect for Dr. Nelson as a historian and for his contribution to the field of history around Blackdom," Breeze wrote in an email. She called his resignation from the education advisory council and complaints about the exhibit "a complete shock."

Breeze said she met Nelson several years ago. She had contacted him to learn more about her family ties to Blackdom.

Albuquerque Museum Director Andrew Connors acknowledged Nelson's research was not directly credited in that institution's interactive exhibit, Facing the Rising Sun: The Journey of African American Homesteaders in New Mexico, Vision, Belief, and Sovereign Ownership.

Produced by Electric Playhouse, an immersive entertainment venue in Albuquerque, the installation focuses on the history of families homesteading in Vado, Las Cruces and Albuquerque.

"The challenge with museum exhibitions, unlike scholarly exhibitions, is that we don't footnote," Connors said. "It would be off-putting to the general public if every idea was footnoted. There are so many ideas in this exhibition."

Rita Powdrell, director of the African American Museum and Cultural Center of New Mexico, which curated the interactive exhibit, called Nelson's claim "baseless" and his resignation from the advisory council "tragic."

"If the research and these stories were in history books, then people would see the work that people have done, and the history of this state," Powdrell said of African American frontierism in New Mexico.

"If there's something he saw he wants us to look at, we'd be glad to do that," Powdrell added, referring to Nelson's complaint.

Nelson wrote in an email to NMSU Dean Enrico Pontelli and other officials, "To be clear, I want my work shared, it is what a professor hopes for, and it has been rewarding to witness my contributions taking shape nationally and internationally."

In an interview this week, he said both exhibits seem to be centered on a narrative of empowerment and sovereignty among African American settlers in New Mexico — a narrative he said his work established.

However, he said, "I spent 10 years developing a narrative for all of us to continue to develop, but instead they chose to pick the parts they could use and pilfer and turn into some kind of commodity, instead of embracing the whole narrative."