Black community leaders and lawmakers opened African American Day at the State Legislature with a group performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on the House floor.
Rep. Pamelya Herndon (D-Albuquerque) led the House floor celebration on Friday, Feb. 13, recognizing the “vital contributions of African Americans to the state’s history, culture and progress,” and honoring ten outstanding African American women in New Mexico for their contributions to communities across the state.
The NM State Capitol featured a resource fair in the rotunda with Black-led organizations, including the NAACP, New Mexico Black Leadership Council, Juneteenth Renaissance Institute and the University of New Mexico African American Student Services.
William Cornick Jr, a pastor at Grant Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church said a brief prayer following “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“On this Black day at the legislature, we acknowledge the enduring contributions of Black communities, both past and present, whose labor, leadership, creativity and resilience have helped shape this state and this nation,” Cornick Jr. said. “Let decisions made here be guided not only by policy and procedure, but by compassion, fairness and a commitment to the common good.”
Juneteenth Renaissance Institute Board Director and University of New Mexico Africana Studies alum Mandisa Routheni was at the resource fair with her three children, promoting her organization and upcoming events, including the Heart of ABQ 6.6 kilometer race in Albuquerque’s International District.
“We’ll be celebrating 100 years of Route 66, and specifically the stretch of Route 66 that goes through the International District,” Routheni said. “We’re making sure all the beautiful cultures, businesses in that area get the same kind of treatment that people in Nob Hill get for the ‘Shop and Stroll.’”
Routheni said she is a seventh-generation Black New Mexican, with family ties dating back to before New Mexico’s statehood with one of her ancestors, S.T. Richards, — a 1930 UNM alum having built the Ideal Hotel on Route 66 in East End Addition.
The Ideal Hotel was the first public accommodations for African Americans in Albuquerque, according to the Story of Place Institute.
“The International District is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, but we don’t treat it like that. We don’t talk about these assets,” Routheni said. “Same thing for the Black communities here in New Mexico, who are also very overlooked, but a very much important part of this state.”
Routheni said she did not learn about New Mexico history until she attended UNM and studied under her mentors, including Africana Studies professors Jamal Martin and Natasha Howard.
“(African Americans in New Mexico) were conductors, a job that Black people couldn’t get in other places, they came to the West to find a better life because they could actually get leadership positions as Black people,” Routheni said.
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NAACP Albuquerque Health Chair Shirley Ellison said she hopes to see improved healthcare and insurance in New Mexico after this year’s legislative session.
Ellison ran the African American program for the American Diabetes Association, during which she started the first African American program for diabetes in the state of New Mexico, she said.
“We educated people about the seriousness of diabetes through health fairs, speakers, and a number of different things,” Ellison said.
The NAACP table was promoting their upcoming “Freedom Fund Gala” on April 18 at the Marriott Pyramid, which will feature National NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and the UNM Fervent Praise Choir.
Brenda Steele and Gloria Fadipe represented the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which is an African American sorority established in 1913 in Washington D.C., with the UNM chapter being chartered in 1970.
“We wanted the community to know about Delta Sigma Theta because we are a public service sorority,” Steele said. “We have donated toiletries and also donated clothes. We had a purse drive for women who needed purses. We filled those purses up with needed items, personal items.”
Asha Ortiz, the Education Advancement Coordinator for the New Mexico State Office of African American Affairs was also at the resource fair to share an educational initiative in collaboration with the New Mexico Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, who was also present at the Roundhouse.
Starting in November 2025, Ortiz said that the OAAA has provided lesson plans and a stipend for classroom materials to elementary schools statewide that have higher numbers of Black students.
“We looked at what the need in New Mexico is when it comes to our children, and we saw that mathematics and literacy were areas of struggle for them,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz said that the MLK Commission’s lesson plan values “the beloved community.”
“It focuses on how building a community in kindness, love, compassion and even differences, is what makes a beloved community,” Ortiz said.
UNM African American Student Services Success Specialist Cedric Roberson Jr., who was tabling at the resource fair, said AASS wanted to come to the Roundhouse to “offer their expertise,” adding that the organization serves as a home away from home for African American students.
“Outside of that, we do offer scholarships, we offer counseling, we offer opportunities where students can move outside of the campus and go to different events so they can experience New Mexico,” Roberson said.
AASS also has a summer bridge program for prospective UNM students and a first-year experience course titled “Black Minds Matter,” for new students to learn about campus movements, Roberson said.
Roberson told the Daily Lobo that he hopes to see less division in the political system from this year’s legislative session.
“I hope that the legislature here at the Capitol understands that ‘we put you there for a reason, so we want you to fight for us,’” Roberson said. “I hope to see more of both sides coming together and not arguing and dividing.”
Leila Chapa is the social media and photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
