Submitted by Christina Billy on the 2016 winter session program in the American Southwest sponsored by the Department of History…
This past week we traveled a long distance to northern New Mexico with our first stop being the beautiful White Sands National Monument. We invested in a saucer sled and had a great time sliding down the dunes. The next day we visited a firefighting icon, Smokey Bear’s grave site– may he rest in peace. A fifteen minute ride brought us to Lincoln, NM, the site of the Lincoln County War involving the infamous Billy the Kid. A drastic change in topics led us to the Roswell UFO Museum on our way to Bosque Redondo. At Bosque Redondo, we learned a lot about the lives of American Indians being ripped from their homelands and struggling to survive the Long Walk. From there we made our way to New Mexico’s capital, Santa Fe. In front of the Governor’s Palace were many Native Americans from different tribes selling their handmade goods. It was interesting to hear the stories behind their goods and how they are made. While in Santa Fe, we visited a nearby reservation called Taos, a continuing pueblo of many Native Americans today. We saw many adobe built homes and outdoor mud ovens. We even saw underground kivas, a religious place of worship hidden from Spaniards in the 1600’s who were forcing their conversion to Christianity. Tomorrow, we are headed to the Acoma Pueblo, another important pueblo involved in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
