UNM-Gallup class features area history

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — For the first time in its history, UNM-Gallup will be offering a course on the history of the best darn town in New Mexico.

Yes, Gallup will be getting a “This is Your Life” treatment in the fall semester. The course, which will be taught by local historian Martin Link, is titled “Gallup: A traffic-jam in the desert.”

The course, which will be offered on Wednesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., will cover all aspects of Gallup history, including the cultures that make up the town, the role the railroad played in its founding, the early coal mining and the development of Gallup as an center for Indian arts and crafts.

Link was asked if the course will also cover the seedier side of Gallup — such as the days when gambling and prostitution were rampant, the circumstances behind the Gallup Riot in 1935, the 1973 kidnapping of Gallup’s mayor, the militant Indian days and the controversy surrounding the nickname “Drunk City, USA.”

“That will all get mentioned,” Link said.

He said it’s not odd that no course on Gallup history has ever been offered before since no one in the state seems to be into that.

“The main campus has never offered a course on the history of Albuquerque; San Juan College has never offered one on the history of Farmington,” he said.

This is a upper level course and while there are no prerequisites, Link said having taken a class in New Mexico history would be helpful.

The course is offered both to students and locals. “So far, all those who have signed up have been locals,” Link said.
Attendance is critical, Link said.

“Students need to realize that each week’s session is actually two classes,” he said. “Having more than three absences will jeopardize the student’s grade.”

The course has a limit of 15 students — and three audits — so once it will be filled up, the course will be closed. As for whether this will be a one-time thing or a regular course, Link said that’s sill up in the air.