Estévan Rael-Gálvez, Ph.D, is currently the State Historian for the state of New Mexico. He was born in the San Luis Valley and raised in northern Taos County, New Mexico. Dr. Rael-Galvez obtained his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. He received his master's degree and Ph.D in American Cultures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Rael-Galvez's dissertation "Identifying Captivity and Capturing Identity: Narratives of American Indian Slavery" focuses on the meanings of American Indian slavery and the concomitant emergence of the unique legacy and identity in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships for his academic studies, including the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and the Katrin H. Lamon Residential Fellowship at the School of American Research.