Blacks had traveled to the West before the Civil War to serve in the military and
work on the railroads. They also served as fur trappers, cowboys, miners and explorers.
Some were free men; some were slaves.

Black miners made up the largest group of post-Civil War migrants, working during
the mining boom of the 1880’s. They lived largely in Grant County that as late
as 1910 had the fourth largest Black population in the territory, approximately
10% of the total African American population. By the 1890’s a mining decline had
begun.

Black cowboys were also prevalent in New Mexico after the Civil War. A New
Mexico trail driver named George McJunkins became a ranch foreman in Union
County. He accidentally discovered the Folsom archeological site at Capulin
Mountain in 1908 that established the presence of humans in North America during
the Ice Age. The Capulin Volcano is 31 miles east of Raton near the town of
Folsom. This area was once one of the largest cattle towns in New Mexico until it
was destroyed by a flash flood in 1908. McJunkin found a collection of spear
points and gigantic woolly mammoth bones while riding the range. McJunkins’
find pushed back the date of the earliest human occupation of North America by
thousands of years.

Another Black, Montgomery Bell, became successful in the sheep and cattle industry.
He began in New Mexico as a stable manager at hotel magnet Paul Harvey’s
Montezuma Hotel in Las Vegas and then became an agent for the prominent Jewish
merchant Charles Ilfield in the 1800’s. He eventually acquired his own sheep
and goat herds and became a moneylender in northeast New Mexico. He built one
of the first two story houses in Las Vegas.

The railroad era began in the 1870’s and 1880’s. Blacks employed by the Santa Fe
Railroad shops settled in the industrial suburbs of San Jose, just south of Albuquerque.
The chair-car attendants, porters and dining car waiters, chefs and roundhouse
laborers for the railroad were largely men with steady incomes. These men and
women were exposed to travel on a free pass. They also encountered wealthy travelers
who introduced them to a different social realm.

Early Churches in Albuquerque

In 1882 William Slaughter and other individuals organized the New Mexico Colored
Religious Society, which is now known as Grant Chapel African Methodist
Episcopal (AME). Grant Chapel AME was the first Black Church in the state of
New Mexico. The original church was located in west Albuquerque. Reverend
Spotworth Rice served as the first minister. In 1883, the Colored Methodist Mission
was given land donated by the New Mexico Township for the formation of
“New Town.” They were given two lots for the church at the corner of Coal and
Third Street. The original name recorded for the church after the donation of the
land was Coal Avenue Methodist Church. The name was changed in July 1905 to
Grant Chapel and is believed to have been named for Bishop Abraham Grant,
bishop of the Fifth Episcopal District at that time.

Rena Paris-Bendaw is the Church Treasurer, President of the Women’s Missionary
Society, Secretary of the Lay Organization, and Member of the Usher Board. She
attended church on Coal Avenue. She recalls: “The church was an extended family.
We would get all dressed up and go to church. My mother was an usher in the
church so I would sit with the other women. We wore gloves, hats and sleeves
even during the summer. Women wore stockings and girls wore socks. We could
not wear white after September.”

Paris-Bendaw states that in 1952 the church moved to 409 Santa Fe SE and in
September 1990 it moved to its present location at 1720 Claremont NE. “My
mother was an usher and encouraged me to be one, too. She said that as ushers we
are some of the first people to greet worshipers with a smile to set the tone.”

She recalls that during the civil rights era, the NAACP met at Grant Chapel as did
the Urban League and the National Council of Negro Women. The Grant Chapel
AME is part of the Desert Mountain Conference and is connected throughout the
world to ministries in Africa, Bermuda, Canada, and other states.

In 1898 Mrs. Tabytha Watson and her two children moved from Gainesville,
Texas to Albuquerque. Not finding a Baptist Church in the town or state, they
worshipped at the AME Church for about five months.

Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Watson began conducting Sunday School and prayer
meetings in her home at 4th and Cooper Avenue. From these meetings a Baptist
Church was organized and named Mt. Olive Baptist Church. Reverend Gladden
from Colorado Springs joined Mrs. Watson to preside over services. They raised
$135.00 to purchase a lot at 510 Lead Avenue. A white frame hall which served as
the church was built at the back of the lot. Baptismal services were performed in
the Rio Grande until a pool was built in the hall. Several years later the Church
began to build a brick church in the front of the lot that was completed in 1909.
The hall behind the church was used as an annex. In 1934 the lot at 508 Lead was
bought and a parsonage was built. The white frame hall at the back of the Church
was sold and a house at 512 Lead was purchased and converted into a Sunday
school, dining room, and kitchen.

A picnic was held every July 4 either at the Rio Grande Park, Witcomb Springs or
Bear Canyon. In the early days, transportation was by stagecoach. Initially the
AME Church and Mt. Olive Baptist Church enjoyed many social events together.

In 1970 the properties at 508, 510, and 512 Lead were sold and the property at
2401 University Boulevard was purchased. Groundbreaking was celebrated that
year, and the first building was named the Ralph Bunche Cultural Center. In February
1977 the new church was dedicated.

Today, along with Grant Chapel AME and Mount Olive Baptist, there are numerous
churches in Albuquerque that provide spiritual, religious, and social networks
for Blacks in the city.

Buffalo Soldiers

“Negroes had little, at the turn of the century, to help sustain our faith in
ourselves except the pride that we took in the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, the
Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth infantry … They were our Ralph Bunche,
Marian Anderson, Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson.”
--Prof. Rayford Logan, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

It remains a mystery why the Indians called the Black cavalrymen Buffalo Soldiers.
Some say it was because the men were rugged as buffalo; others say it was
because the Indians saw a resemblance between the soldiers’ hair and the buffalo’s
shaggy coat. Also, many of the soldiers wore long buffalo robe coats. The name
was primarily applied to the cavalry but sometimes included the Black infantry.
The infantry, Black and White, were also called’“Walk-a Heaps.”

More than 180,000 Blacks served in the Union Army and of these more than
33,000 died. After the war, the future of Blacks in the Army was not certain. In
1866 Congress passed legislation establishing two cavalry and four infantry regiments
(later consolidated to two) to be made up of Blacks. The majority of the recruits
had served in all-Black units during the war. The mounted regiments were
the 9th and 10th cavalries and the infantry regiments were the 24th and 25th infantry
Units. Until the early 1890’s, these regiments comprised 20% of all cavalry
forces on the American frontier. Their adversaries included Geronimo, Sitting Bull,
Victorio, Lone Wolf, Billy the Kid and Pancho Villa.

The Buffalo Soldiers explored and mapped vast areas of the Southwest and strung
hundreds of miles of telegraph lines. They built and repaired frontier outposts and
protected railroad workers. The soldiers also built roads, discouraged illegal traders
who sold guns and alcohol to Indians, policed cattle rustlers and formed escorts
for stagecoaches carrying military payroll or other valuables. The Buffalo
Soldiers also fought beside Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill and helped to
save the 7th Cavalry in the aftermath of Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

The Black regiments received some of the worst assignments the Army had to
offer and faced prejudice regarding both the color of their uniform and their skin.
Despite the many obstacles they faced, the 9th and 10th cavalries developed into
two of the most distinguished fighting units in the Army.

During the early years, the Buffalo Soldiers served mainly in Kansas, Texas, and
New Mexico. In 1885 several companies from the 9th cavalry were sent to Indian
Territory to remove the Boomers, White homesteaders trying to stake illegal
claims on Indian lands. In 1892 four companies of the 24th infantry were transferred
from Fort Bayard, New Mexico and Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and in 1896
two companies of the 24th infantry were sent to the Nogales area to fight Yaqui
Indians in the final stages of the Indian wars.

Black soldiers patrolled the Mexican border from temporary camps. The Newell
Cantonment at Naco was created in response to Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus,
New Mexico in 1916. Over 1,000 followers of Pancho Villa rode into Columbus,
starting fires and killing nineteen Americans. An agreement between President
Woodrow Wilson and Mexican President Venustiano Carranza permitted both nations
to pursue bandits across the border. The mission ordered by Wilson was executed
by General John J. Pershing who had the nickname “Black Jack” for leading
Black regiments early in his career. Among the troops sent across the border
were the 24th and 25th infantry and the 10th cavalry.

One of the leaders in Pershing’s mission was Charles Young. Born in Kentucky in
1864, Young continued a military tradition started by his father who had served in
the Colored Artillery during the Civil War. Young graduated from West Point and
served in the military intelligence unit. In Mexico he led the 2nd squadron against
Pancho Villa’s rebels at Agua Caliente. Young became a colonel in 1916 and commanded
Fort Huachuca, Arizona in 1916-1917. He was the first African American
to achieve the rank of Colonel.

Daily life on the Western Frontier was harsh for the Black soldiers but it was similar
to conditions faced by their White counterparts in many ways. Barracks were
poorly ventilated and had vermin. Bathing facilities were local creeks. Diseases
such as dysentery, diarrhea, bronchitis and tuberculosis were common. Rations
were beef or bacon, potatoes, beans, fresh vegetables from the post garden and
occasionally fruit or jam. The work week was seven days, with the exception of
July 4 and Christmas. The monthly pay for a private was $13.00. Many Blacks
studied after hours in schools usually run by chaplains assigned to the Black units.
Studying had been forbidden during slavery so most Black soldiers were illiterate.

Only a small percentage of the Black men could bring their wives to the frontier
posts. The small villages around the forts were usually a collection of saloons and
gambling parlors. Racial prejudice by both local citizens and law officers was
widespread. When disputes arose among the Black soldiers and the locals, officials
and juries often sided against the soldiers.

The Buffalo Soldiers served in the Indian Wars and distinguished themselves in
spite of being issued old horses, insufficient ammunition and faulty equipment.
They were rarely guilty of drunkenness in a time and place where alcoholism was
common. Their rate of desertion and court martial was much lower than that of
White soldiers. From 1880-1886 the 24th infantry held the record for the lowest
desertion rate in the entire United States Army. In 1888 the 24th and 25th Infantry
were tied for the honor.

The Buffalo Soldiers organized excellent bands that encouraged good relations
with the civilian populations. They offered concerts, played for parades and funerals,
and provided dance music for church benefits.

Lt. Henry O. Flipper served in the 10th cavalry and was the first Black to receive a
commission and graduate from West Point. Discrimination in West Point against
Blacks was pervasive in the last quarter of the 19th century when Flipper attended.
After graduating he was assigned in 1877 to the 10th Cavalry.

In the spring of 1881, Colonel William R. Shafter became commander of the post
in Fort Davis, Texas, where Lt. Flipper was assigned the duties of Acting Assistant
Quartermaster and Acting Commissary of Subsistence. Colonel Shafter relieved
Flipper of his Quartermaster duties. It was then that Lt. Flipper discovered commissary
funds missing from his trunk. Afraid of the ill-tempered Colonel Shafter,
Flipper acted to conceal the loss until the money was found. Lt. Flipper was
charged with embezzlement and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
The court found him guilty of misconduct and ordered his dismissal.

Following his dishonorable discharge from service, Lt. Flipper spent 37 years as a
civil and mining engineer in the state and in Mexico and became the first Black to
gain recognition in the engineering profession. From 1893-1901 he worked for the
Department of Justice as a special agent for the Court of Private Land Claims.

Lt. Flipper maintained his innocense of the misconduct charge and sought to have
a bill clearing his name passed in Congress. He died in 1940 at age 84 with his
dishonorable discharge still in place. Professor Cortez Williams states that
Flipper’s discharge was later changed to an honorable one as a result of the research
of University of New Mexico student Donald Walker in the late 1960’s. In
1976 the United States Army reviewed Lt. Flipper’s case and posthumously
awarded him an honorable discharged dated June 30, 1882. He was pardoned of
all charges by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

An article in The Perspective magazine states that the Buffalo Soldiers served as
an inspiration to those who came after them in the Air Force and Navy including
the Tuskegee Airmen and the Golden Thirteen. In 1941 the Air Force began a program
in Alabama to train Black servicemen as military pilots or “Tuskegee Airmen,”
as they came to be known. The Tuskegee Institute, the school founded by
Booker T. Washington, conducted the flight training. The Tuskegee Airmen
trained to be fighter pilots flew in the 99th Fighter squadron in combat duty in
North Africa and the 332nd Fighter Group that flew combat missions in Italy. In
February 1944, the Navy commissioned its first African American officers, a major
step forward in promoting the status of Blacks in the Navy. Twelve commissioned
officers and a warrant officer who received his rank at the same time came
to be known as the “Golden Thirteen.”

The Buffalo Soldiers Society of New Mexico today informs adults and youth
about the history of those who came before them. The Society consists of 25
members from various walks of life. From retired members of all branches of the
military to a retired Boy Scout leader, today’s Buffalo Soldiers share the same
dedication to the uniform as the original Buffalo Soldiers did. The New Mexico
unit performs at schools, colleges, historical societies, parades, and government
events. These Buffalo Soldiers are not re-enactors but educators. They describe
themselves as a traveling museum as they have from 50 to 70 authentic artifacts
with them whenever they give a presentation. The organization has received an
endowment from the New Mexico Humanities Council to teach the history of the
Buffalo Soldiers.