LETTER TO MEMBERS

History has many layers and many voices.

This is certainly true of the Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site, the subject of our feature article that begins on page 3. The “pioneer history” of the fort was the story told until 17 visiting Navajo students left a letter demanding a retelling from a Native perspective.

From that moment in the summer of 1990, an effort was launched to install an updated exhibition about the Long Walk, the United States government’s forced and violent relocation of Navajo (Diné) and Mescalero Apache (N’de) peoples across more than 400 miles between 1863 and 1868. Over those five years, 9,500 Navajo and 500 Mescalero Apache were tortured and imprisoned by the Kit Carson-led U.S. military on the Bosque Redondo Reservation.

During Indigenous Peoples Weekend this October, the new exhibition, Bosque Redondo: A Place of Suffering, A Place of Survival, will open at the Bosque Redondo Memorial. It is the culmination of 30 years of dedication and collaboration between state officials, Native leaders, and New Mexico Historic Sites staff and volunteers, many of whom you will hear from in our feature story.

This issue of Member News also showcases the many educational opportunities offered by the Museum of New Mexico system, from the Tribal Libraries Summer Reading Program sponsored by the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture to bilingual education programs and folk art workshops conducted by the Museum of International Folk Art.

In downtown Santa Fe, the Friends of History have updated the popular walking tours that start at the New Mexico History Museum. And the New Mexico Museum of Art organized Poetic Justice, an exhibition that showcases three artists—Judith F. Baca, Mildred Howard and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith—who have been active in social justice causes.

We are proud of our cultural institutions in New Mexico for engaging in meaningful discourse on diversity, equity and social justice through their exhibitions and educational programs. And, as always, we thank you, our members, for your support in making it all happen.

Sincerely,

Jamie Clements President/CEO “We are proud of our cultural institutions in New Mexico for engaging in meaningful discourse on diversity, equity and social justice through their exhibitions and educational programs.” —Jamie Clements

Photo © Saro Calewarts.