History of the town of Blackdom, New Mexico [Video]

The town of Blackdom was located just south of Roswell. The town is no more, but a local historian shared his new findings with KOAT.For several years, Dr. Timothy E. Nelson has researched Blackdom and it’s something he’s passionate about.It was home to several African Americans in the early 1900s.”Blackdom was a real place,” Nelson told KOAT. “Once you passed the Pecos River, there were no more Jim Crow laws applied, you know, socially. So black folks were able to use the loophole of being in a territory, for example, and not a state, because we’re talking 1903 to, live out their striving as, black folks, beyond the reaches of white and impositions.”Research shows the population rose to 300 people by 1908, but Dr. Nelson believes roughly a thousand people were part of Blackdom.”When you say living, you got to understand, it wasn’t just a place where people were stationary. …