A Blueprint and a BEAcon: The Enduring Importance of Black Education in New Mexico and Beyond

Multiple Presenter Session: Panel

Abstract

Black education has remained a radical site of possibility. It provides a blueprint for civic engagement, critical consciousness, and collective liberation. In New Mexico, where Black communities have long navigated marginalization within both state structures and public schooling systems, the fight for true education—not state-sanctioned compliance—has taken a bold and necessary step forward through the passage of the Black Education Act (BEA) in 2021. Born from decades of advocacy and shaped by the historic Yazzie/Martinez ruling, the BEA mandates culturally responsive curriculum, increased Black teacher representation, and an overhaul of racially biased disciplinary practices. These efforts aim not only to improve outcomes for Black students but to fundamentally reimagine education as a tool for justice and equity. New Mexico’s BEA existence offers a counter narrative—one that affirms Black life and Black learning as essential to a thriving, multiracial democracy.

Sub Track

• AESA

Presenters

• Timothy Green IV, University of New Mexico

• Hakim Bellamy, University of New Mexico

• Rachel McMillian, Indiana University Indianapolis