During the territorial days and the early years of New Mexico's statehood, one all black town was founded in 1901. The town was called Blackdom and one of the last founded west of Oklahoma. Located in southwest New Mexico, Blackdom was listed on the territorial map of Chaves County. The physical location was 18 miles south of Roswell and 8 miles west of Dexter. Francis Boyer and Daniel Keyes settled Blackdom. After arriving they took trips to Oklahoma and Texas and showed pictures of the land opened to homesteaders. A number of families answered the call, the Collins from Cohoma, Mississippi, the Ragsdales, and the Eubanks came from Ohio and one of their ten children became the first school teacher in Blackdom. The Herron family came with ten children, the Taylors were from Texas and had six children. W. T. Malone and wife came from Mississippi and Mr. Malone was the first black lawyer who passed the state bar in New Mexico in 1914. He later came to Albuquerque and opened an office at Broadway and Tijeras. After the gradual demise of Blackdom by the mid-1920's, the Boyers moved to Pacheco, New Mexico and then to Vado where two descendents still reside. | 
