New Mexico’s Stolen Lands: A History of Racism, Fraud & Deceit

By Ray John de Aragón

When the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed previous Spanish and Mexican land grants, as well as rights for Native Americans to their ancestral homelands. However, organized property theft began soon after. People were methodically dispossessed of their homes through manipulation, conspiracy and even organized crime rings, leading to widespread poverty and isolation. Then in 1967, the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid, led by charismatic civil rights leader Reies López Tijerina, brought the age-old struggle over these stolen lands to the national stage. Author Ray John de Aragón brings to light the suffering brought to New Mexico by land barons, cattlemen and unscrupulous politicians and the effects still felt today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Feb 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781439669143

Ray John de Aragón

Traveling storyteller Ray John de Aragón has thrilled audiences with his frightening and enthralling tales of ghosts and the supernatural. Holding advanced degrees in Spanish colonial history, arts, legends and myths of New Mexico, he has presented on these topics for the New Mexico History Museum, the Museum of International Folk Art, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the University of New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe and many more. He has published fifteen books and has written for and been featured in more than one hundred publications.