UNM celebrates milestones for Black History Month

February 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Black History Month in the United States. This milestone will be recognized and honored throughout the month at The University of New Mexico, which has been celebrating Black History Month for the past 50 years.

Since 1976, UNM has recognized and celebrated the achievements and contributions of Black, African, and African American communities on campus through events, research talks, sharing lived experiences and other initiatives that highlight the African American experience.

Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Month and a Harvard-educated historian, chose February for the celebration to honor the past and to recognize those who helped shape the future of African Americans in America, according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). By selecting this month and recognizing the discourse of the time, he was asking the public to extend its learning of Black history, which increased his success in establishing it.

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history," said Woodson.

Woodson, known as a man of action, has left a 100-year legacy that continues to grow and impact communities around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom.

Each year, the UNM Department of Anthropology continues its tradition of creating a dedicated webpage to showcase some of these celebrations.

African American Student Services

UNM's African American Student Services staff are dedicated to supporting students throughout the journey to graduation. The office's mission is to recruit, retain and uplift the Black Student population at UNM by providing educational discourse, leadership development, holistic wellness and community engagement. AASS is an essential resource and contributes to the University's commitment to a diverse campus culture by appreciating and creating space for Black student scholars to thrive.

Brandi Stone is the director of African American Student Services. A UNM alumnus, Stone received both her B.S. in Political Science and her M.A. in Public Administration. Throughout her seven-year tenure at AASS, she has served in numerous capacities, beginning with a work-study position and progressing to various professional roles. As the director, she has worked on retention-based programming, including the new Black Minds Matter transition course and the Black Cultural Conference, which has gained regional participation from Black scholars and practitioners

UNM Africana Studies Department

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history."

- Carter G. Woodson

The Africana Studies Program at The University of New Mexico gives students of all races, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds a full understanding of the global linkages between peoples of Africa and other African descended people in the Southwest, the contiguous United States, and throughout the Black Diaspora in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Africana Studies provides an excellent university experience in a discipline that investigates African descended peoples' experiences from the perspective of their interests, aspirations, possibilities, and envisioned destinies.

UNM President Garnett S. Stokes wrote, "In 1970, following the lead of our students, faculty and staff, UNM created its Afro Studies program, as it was called then, which was the first ethnic studies research program at UNM, and it remains one of the oldest Black studies programs in the nation."

Black History Project honors Dr. Barbara Brown Simmons

AASS and UNM Communications and Marketing Department's Web team collaborated on a historic project to document and showcase the Black experience at UNM. The website touch screen project, Black History at UNM, is now available at the African American Student Services office in Mesa Vista Hall.

"This project came from a need to archive the Black experience at UNM in a way that students can engage with it in real time," said program director Brandi Stone. "We wanted to expose students to the legacy of our Black community on our campus. We want students to understand the history and lived experiences of those who came before them."

Black scholars

Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) was a prominent historian who became known as the founder of Black History Month. After being barred from attending American Historical Association conferences despite being a dues-paying member, Woodson believed that the white-dominated historical profession had little interest in Black history. He saw African American contributions "overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them." For Black scholars to study and preserve Black history, Woodson realized he would have to create a separate institutional structure. With funding from several philanthropic foundations, Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 in Chicago, describing its mission as the scientific study of the "neglected aspects of Negro life and history." The next year, he started the scholarly Journal of Negro History, which is published to this day under the name Journal of African American History." Read more on the NAACP website.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. Hurston became the most successful and most significant black woman writer of the first half of the 20th century. Over a career spanning more than 30 years, she published four novels, two books of folklore, an autobiography, numerous short stories, and several essays, articles, and plays. Her most popular novel was Their Eyes Were Watching God(1937). While at Columbia University, she studied with Franz Boas. Read more on the official Zora Neale Hurston website.

Harris D. Smith (MFA) was appointed the dean of the UNM College of Fine Arts in June 2020. Smith is a product of the nationally-ranked MFA Acting program at the University of Washington. Upon his appointment as dean, he wrote, "I am honored and excited to have been asked to serve as the Dean for the College of Fine Arts at The University of New Mexico. As the father of four Afro/LatinX children, my goal is to work with the talented faculty, staff, and students of CFA to positively impact the region and empower all underrepresented people in the state. Read More.

For more information about Black History Month at UNM, visit UNM Anthropology.