Hometown Hero: 'Mama' Hamilton continues sharing Black history through storytelling

Editor's note: This is one in a series of hometown heroes — southern New Mexico residents who complete acts of heroism or otherwise serve as an inspiration. We'll feature one hometown hero a month in 2022. To nominate someone, email LRomero@lcsun-news.com.

LAS CRUCES - Storytelling has long been a custom in communities to pass down culture and history. Some storytellers are writers, some are filmmakers and others simply speak.

One such storyteller is Florence Hamilton of Las Cruces. This 100-year-old Black woman has more than a century of personal experiences to talk about, but she also makes a determined effort to share Black history.

Black History Month was celebrated throughout the month of February, and now March is celebrated as Women's History Month.

Hamilton was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, a midwestern state with Jim Crow laws on the books. Lynching was common practice when Hamilton was young. Black men were most often targeted, but women were killed in some instances as well.

Ending these racially motivated killings was one of the early goals of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest civil rights organization founded in 1909. Hamilton said she has been a member of the group since she was a young girl.

“I think I’ve always belonged to the NAACP, as long as I can remember,” she said.

Groups of children, including her, would participate in membership drives and deliver informational fliers. More recently, she served as the secretary of the Doña Ana County chapter. Before that, she was president of the Roswell chapter.

Hamilton came to New Mexico about 40 years ago, following the death of her husband, Raymond. They had been married for 40 years. She said she spent 10 years in Hobbs, 10 years in Roswell and is going on 21 years in Las Cruces.

“Looks like I’m staying,” Hamilton joked.

She spoke of the important work the NAACP has done over the years and continues to do to reach equality and equity between people. Hamilton said the organization is often criticized by younger people for not taking action. In reality, she said the group has never stopped working, taking a steadier, long-term approach to advocacy.

“The NAACP is still around … for all injustices,” she said. “Black Lives Matter was real in your face with (George) Floyd and that trial, but we were there too. They just didn’t talk about it…But we were still there, still fighting.”

Locally, she said an injustice she sees is that a majority of the community are people of color, but the people in power representing them are not. There is still work to be done to create equity for all races and genders.

Alongside her advocacy work, Hamilton is also an active member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Storytellers of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley Timebank.

Sharing stories of Black history are her go-to, she said, when the Storytellers are asked to speak to groups or at events. Sometimes she shares stories from her own life. Cathay Williams’ story is one that Hamilton has shared several times.

Williams was a Black woman born into slavery in Missouri in the 1800s. She would later join the U.S. Army passing for a man for several years. She served in the American Frontier Wars and later became a Buffalo Soldier. After her honorable discharge, she worked as a cook at Fort Union, New Mexico.

At 100, Hamilton is still making an important impact on the community. Her family is as well. Hamilton’s son, Joel, has served as an officer for New Mexico’s branch of the NAACP. She is still working on getting her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to join the organization.

Hamilton has two children and a whole passel of grandchildren and great-grandchildren — some biological and others she has stepped in as a surrogate grandmother for.

To them, she is known as “Mama” Hamilton.

Previous hometown heroes:

• Las Crucen summits Mount Kilimanjaro on second attempt, 3 years after debilitating injury

• Las Cruces Special Olympian headed to the USA games this summer

Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

Keep reading:

• 'College is too damn expensive': New Mexico governor signs free college tuition bill into law

• Aggies hammer Utah Valley to secure fourth WAC title in five seasons

• Las Cruces police respond to shooting; woman in critical condition

• How to watch NMSU in the 2022 WAC men's basketball tournament

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Hometown Hero: 'Mama' Hamilton continues sharing Black history