Reflections on Primary Sources Exercise

From looking over these primary sources, I was immediately struck by how “on my own” I was. Although I had some secondary sources to draw from, the exercise of creating my own understanding and narrative was both daunting and somewhat freeing! One takes for granted how much we think we know about history is actually what we are told happened. This assignment made that reality very starkly apparent.

One challenge in creating a narrative is not being fully distracted by my own presuppositions and the current idea of what is socially acceptable. Obviously many of the words and opinions expressed in the documents are reprehensible to the modern eye, but that in itself is useful information in crafting narrative and leads to further questions. What was the Bureau of Protective Social Measures? What are some examples of other policies or acts that originated from that office? What was the nature and atmosphere of racism in early 20th-century New Mexico and how was it distinct from the same in, say, southeast America at the time? Just because I find these words offensive, I cannot let them distract me from asking questions.

As I’ve noted in some of my peer responses, I’m still trying to figure out the “why” of it all. The goals and expressed reasons for removing the 24th Infantry are made quite clear but those in themselves do not answer why. I sense a larger political struggle that has a much broader scope than Columbus. I suspect a narrative that looks like “New Mexico and federal bureaucrats wanted to remove the 24th Infantry from Columbus because they were black, an act of discrimination in an overtly racist era of American history” is far too simplified. What were the platforms of the parties at the time? What did Mechem stand to gain if he succeeded in removing the 24th?