近距离内射合集

Two hundred fifty years since the country鈥檚 founding and 114 years since joining the union, New Mexicans are still wrestling with what it means to be American.

When the Second Continental Congress approved the final language of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Spanish settlers had been living in New Mexico for nearly 200 years, and Indigenous groups had been in the region for millennia.

The first printing presses wouldn鈥檛 cross the Mississippi River for almost another half-century, so historians say it鈥檚 unlikely many of these 18th-century New Mexicans were even aware that a new nation was forming on the eastern seaboard.

Spain would go on to assist the American colonies in achieving their ultimate victory over Great Britain. Meanwhile, records show the denizens of this remote Spanish province had more immediate concerns than the rumblings of revolution on a distant edge of the continent many of them would never see.

Instead, the day the Declaration was ratified, Franciscan priests Francisco Atanasio Dom铆nguez and Father Silvestre V茅lez de Escalante had planned to set out from Santa Fe to find a northern route to Monterey, California, but their trip was delayed by a Comanche attack in La Cienega, roughly 16 miles away.

Spanish life was characterized by frequent clashes with the Comanche, Apache and Navajo. There were also alliances that formed, as well as trade 鈥� centuries of social integration that resulted in a unique cultural hybridity that still sets New Mexico apart from the rest of the nation today.

鈥淣ew Mexico's history is not a single story,鈥� said Neil Dodge, senior education coordinator at the New Mexico History Museum. 鈥淚t is layered and often a contradictory mosaic of Indigenous nations, Nueva Mexicanos, Spanish, Mexican inheritances, American expansion and more recent arrivals. If New Mexico's history teaches us anything, it's that people have always had to negotiate how to live together in the demanding landscape that is New Mexico.鈥�

Dodge was raised on the Din茅 Navajo Nation in New Mexico鈥檚 northwestern corner, where he said he and his schoolmates were sometimes chastised for speaking their Native language.

鈥淚f they heard a word of non-English,鈥� he said, 鈥渢hey would use soap in your mouth, as a way of reminding you: 鈥楨nglish only, English only.鈥欌��

Paul Andrew Hutton, bestselling author and a retired professor of history at the University of New Mexico, said it鈥檚 stories like these that illustrate the challenge the U.S. faced in integrating a region that had developed its own sense of nationhood and independence long before the American Army arrived in Santa Fe in August 1846.

鈥淣ew Mexico has had a kind of tortuous journey into the union when we think about it,鈥� Hutton said. 鈥淚t was always kind of a magical place to people to the east who always wanted to get here, but the Spanish had kept them out, of course. Then finally, after the Mexican Revolution, all that changed.鈥�

New Mexico鈥檚 path to statehood was laid in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War. But disputes over the state鈥檚 constitution, boundaries, slavery, and again, its elusive cultural identity, delayed its incorporation into the union until January 1912.

鈥淚 think the 近距离内射合集 States had a real hard time, once it became a country, figuring out how to incorporate a Catholic and Spanish culture into the Anglo-American identity 鈥� not only the Spanish culture but Native culture as well,鈥� said Santa Fe author Hampton Sides, who wrote 2006鈥檚 鈥淏lood and Thunder鈥� and 2024鈥檚 鈥淭he Wide Wide Sea.鈥�

It was also difficult, Sides added, for land-hungry U.S. officials to envision New Mexico鈥檚 arid landscape blending with a nation that had been largely defined until that point in the American imagination by ample water and rolling green pastures.

These were problems of perception that New Mexico鈥檚 western neighbor, Arizona, shared before attaining statehood just a month after the Land of Enchantment, in February 1912.

Native artists and later, early 20th century American artists, helped change the country鈥檚 vision of both Native groups residing in New Mexico and the landscapes where they鈥檇 made their home for thousands of years.

鈥淚t was really only then that Americans started identifying this place as beautiful, with a really rich and meaningful culture,鈥� Sides said. 鈥淭hat sort of turned the tide, and people started to think of this as just a very different part of the world, with its own charms and riches.鈥�

To mark the country鈥檚 250th anniversary, New Mexico鈥檚 Department of Cultural Affairs unveiled a series of special exhibitions at its museums this year, highlighting the state鈥檚 distinct collection of Americana. The department also formed the New Mexico Semi-Quincentennial Commission to help plan, promote and implement other events and educational initiatives about the state鈥檚 relationship to the nation鈥檚 founding.

Mark Dodge, curator of Southwestern Memories at the New Mexico History Museum, led the creation of 鈥淎mericana at 250: Eagles, Flags, and Uncle Sam.鈥�

鈥淲hen we think of symbols of America, we tend to think of things like Uncle Sam, bald eagles, favorite presidents 鈥� that sort of thing,鈥� said Dodge, who has no relation to Neil Dodge. 鈥淲hat we did was we essentially went through our database looking for a diverse range of artifacts that had these symbols in them.鈥�

The exhibit on the museum鈥檚 second floor in Santa Fe features a set of items meant to reflect the state鈥檚 unusual interpretation of its place in the U.S.: Bald eagles perched atop cactuses, an American flag with three images of Our Lady of Guadalupe in place of the field of stars and an impressionistic oil painting of George Washington, one of the foremost figures of the country鈥檚 founding 鈥� and mythos.

Near St. John鈥檚 College, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is featuring an exhibit titled, 鈥淪tars, Stripes, and First Americans,鈥� which contains 10 objects depicting the American flag through Indigenous art. A beaded child鈥檚 Lakota vest, for example, dates to the late 19th century and features two American flags turned opposite each other.

Executive Director Danyelle Means said the collection is meant to symbolize the idea that being American takes on different shapes here in New Mexico and in other corners of the U.S.

She said it鈥檚 a feeling that remains core to Native communities working to retain a sense of independence and sovereignty within the nation that displaced them.

鈥淚 can't speak for all nations, but I really do feel that there is a nation-to-nation relationship that the U.S. government has with Native American tribes that a lot of people don't know about nor understand,鈥� Means said. 鈥淚t's written into the Constitution, but unless you鈥檝e lived within that system, it isn鈥檛 something that鈥檚 widely talked about.鈥�

She said the museum is hosting a Native dance series through the summer, which is traditionally when different tribes gather for powwows.

Means grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, the ancestral homeland of the Oglala Lakota tribe. After the tribe was confined to reservation land in the late 19th century, she said the Fourth of July became a 鈥渞allying point鈥� for her people.

As non-Native groups waved sparklers and American flags, she and her family set off on the powwow trail, dressed in traditional tribal regalia to share in an ancient form of movement meant to say something of where they had come from in a vast land.

鈥淚t was the only time when we could all come together as a band, as a village, as a group, as a reservation, and celebrate those things that we normally celebrated 鈥� naming ceremonies, and you know, marriages, and memorials,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more of a time for us to celebrate the fact that we are still here, still vibrant and creating amazing, incredible art that is loved around the world.鈥�

John Miller is the 近距离内射合集鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.