Growing up in the late 40s, 50s and very early 60s,
like most kids of my generation I was fascinated by westerns. First on radio,
and later on TV, I was enthralled by the tales of American’s Wild West. Many
days after school and on most Saturdays, you’d find me glued to the radio or TV
anxiously absorbing the latest adventure of Red Ryder, the Cisco Kid, the Lone
Ranger, and all the other daring heroes of the western plains, deserts and
mountains.
I don’t think I really noticed at the time that the
old west I saw on our old black and white television set was overwhelmingly
white. If I did notice, I probably just thought, ‘that’s the way things were.’
It’s not like there were alternative sources of information or images to
compare with. I mean, things weren’t totally
white. There were the Indians – or Native Americans. But, with the exception of
the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, and the Last of the Mohicans, they were all
blood thirsty and portrayed as always wanting to scalp someone. There were also
Mexicans, like Red Ryder’s companion, and Cisco Kid’s pal, Pancho – but, except
for their overdone Spanish accents, they were pretty white. Lest I forget, now
and then a Chinese laundryman or cook, like Hop Sing on Bonanza, would put in
an appearance. As for black people, I struggle to remember if there were any
with other than walk-on parts as slaves or former slaves who never really did
much. The cavalry that came to the rescue of the besieged settlers were all a
bunch of white guys.
So, when I left my home in Texas in 1962 to join the
army, those were the images I carried with me. I joined the army to see the
world, and man oh man did I ever. A whole new world opened up to me – and, not
just the fact that there were people in the rest of the world very unlike those
I’d grown up around in a small east Texas town, but my access to historical
records opened up a whole new window on the past. And, I learned that not only
had the past taught to me been distorted, much of it was false by omission.
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| Men of K Troop, 9th Cavalry. Public Domain Image. Wikimedia images. |
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| Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts Public Domain image. |
Between the scouts and the Buffalo Soldiers (a name
given to the black soldiers by the Native American tribes they fought), blacks
were involved in many, if not most, of the battles against the various tribes.
In addition, they helped local law enforcement maintain order (such as the
Lincoln County War in New Mexico), carried mail and supplies, built roads, and
provided security to those building the railroads. After nearly two decades in
Texas and New Mexico, they were transferred to the Dakotas where they continued
to fight, explore, and build. When the first national parks were established,
the army provided security, and Buffalo Soldiers were among those assigned this
duty. When President Theodore Roosevelt visited Yosemite Park, for instance,
men from the Ninth provided his guard of honor and escort.
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| Black homesteaders kids in Nebraska. Public domain image. |
But, people of color were in the west in more than
military uniforms. Before the Civil War, Texas had a large number of slaves,
who worked the ranches, and continued to do so after being freed. Most ranches
had white, black, and Hispanic hands driving cattle, mending fences, and taming
horses. When the country was moving westward, black settlers made the long and
arduous journey – establishing all-black towns in several places.
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| The outlaw, Isom Dart. |
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| Bass Reeves |
There were even black outlaws and lawmen in the Old
West. Ned Huddleston was born a slave in Arkansas in 1849, and accompanied his
owner to Texas during the Civil War. After when he was freed, he joined a band
of rustlers and changed his name to Isom Dart. Despite wanting to live an
honest life, the call of the wild kept luring him back to rustling until he was
killed in 1900. One of the most famous black lawmen was Bass Reeves, also a
former slave, who became one of the first black deputy US marshals west of the
Mississippi. Although he’d never learned to read or write, he spoke six Native
American languages, and had an amazing memory. He would have someone read
fugitive warrants to him and memorize the contents. During his 30+ year career
he brought in over 3,000 fugitives.
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| Bill Pickett |
A bit of trivia about cowboys. How many of you are
rodeo fans? Do you know what bulldogging is? That’s where a rodeo rider leaps
from a horse going at full gallop, grabs a steer by the horns and wrestles it
to the ground. It is now a main event at most rodeos, and it was invented by a
black cowboy, Bill Pickett, who was born in Texas in 1870. Because of his race,
he wasn’t allowed to compete against white rodeo performers, but he toured
parts of the US, Canada, Mexico, England and South America performing for rapt
audiences. He died in 1932 after being kicked in the head by a horse. In 1972
he was inducted in the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, and in 1989 into the Pro-rodeo
Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy. In 1994, the US Postal Service
issued a postage stamp in his memory.
And,
of course, no tale of black cowboys would be complete without mention of Nat
Love, known as Deadwood Dick, born a slave in Tennessee. After freedom and the death of his father, he
moved first to Texas where he demonstrated amazing skills as a cowboy,
especially breaking horses. After a few years he moved to Arizona where he
became even more famous. Deadwood Dick
worked as a cowboy for 20 years before getting married and settling
down. He worked a number of jobs in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada before
finally settling down in California. In 1907, he published his autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better
Known in the Cattle Country as “Deadwood Dick.” While few of the claims in
his book could be verified, except his skill as a cowboy, the American reading
public devoured his book as avidly as the ‘dime novels’ of the time.
There you have it. The Old West was colorful. And, in a literal, not just rhetorical sense.
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