The Black West: A Documentary and Pictoral History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States

Book Description

This entirely new edition of a famous classic has glorious new photographs—many never before seen—as well as a revised and expanded text that deepens our understanding of the vital role played by African American men and women on our early frontiers.Inspired by a conversation that William Loren Katz had with Langston Hughes, The Black West presents long-neglected stories of daring pioneers such as Nat Love, a.k.a. Deadwood Dick, Mary Fields, a.k.a. Stagecoach Mary, Cranford Goldsby, a.k.a. Cherokee Bill—and a host of other intrepid men and women who marched into the wilderness alongside Chief Osceola, Billy the Kid, and Geronimo.Featuring captivating narratives and photographs (many from the author’s world-famous collection), The Black West enriches and deepens our stirring frontier saga. From slave runaways during the colonial era, to the journeys of Lewis and Clark, to the charge at San Juan Hill, Katz vividly recounts the crucial contributions African Americans made during scores of frontier encounters. With its stirring pictures and vivid eyewitness accounts, The Black West is an exhilarating treasure trove.

Customer Reviews:

The Black West:: A Documentary & Pictoral History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the US.......2007-01-03

This book is great and very informative. It tells how the West was won with the help of African-Americans, the things they had to endure during slavery and after freedom and how they establish productive communities.

Excellent!.......2006-02-04

Just a collection of informative vignettes detailing the Brothers and Sisters contributions to the creation of the Old West. Yet another piece of the historical African puzzle that everyone (but especially Blacks) need to become aware of.

How the West was really won........2006-01-04

THE BLACK WEST is a revised edition of an older book by William Loren Katz. He gives us a definitive history, not only of the Black people who helped settle the West, but also of the machinations of the United States to steal the land from the indigenous people. He includes the brawl with Santa Ana of Mexico regarding Texas as well as the struggle to take California from the Mexicans and the Indians. Katz lets us know that although Blacks were prominent in the settling of the West, they were not welcome additions. Many territories that later became states, passed "black laws" to restrict the entry of Blacks into the territories and to regulate their behavior once they were there. Two such laws were keeping them from voting and preventing them from attending the local schools.

On the plus side, Katz gives the glittering history of the Black cowboys who herded the cattle, tamed the ponies and found gold. He even covers the lawbreakers who rustled cattle and gave Billy the Kid a run for his money in terms of bad behavior. Also there were those Blacks who were not willing to quietly accept the discrimination that they had left the states to avoid. Many of these individuals left a legacy of protest. Two women were told in a bar in Seattle, "We don't serve niggers here." They tore that place up. Then there was the sheriff who falsely arrested a Black Buffalo Soldier in Texas. Not only did his fellow soldiers protest, they ripped open the jail and took their comrade with them.

The heartbreaking side was those Blacks who worked hard and long to buy their freedom. Once they had the money and gave it their owner, their owner would accept the money and then continue to keep them in bondage. Also, when Blacks discovered gold, irate gangs of Whites who wished to steal from them frequently ran them off the claim.

This was an excellent book and in my opinion should be required reading for every school child in America. Katz does not sugar coat history as we've come so used to seeing in regular history books. He tells the good along with the bad. He makes the West come alive with his tales of individual courage as well as covering the ugly racism that has colored this country's history.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

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Black Women of the Old West
William Loren Katz
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage
Black Pioneers: An Untold Story
The Negro Cowboys
The Black West: A Documentary and Pictoral History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States
Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West

ASIN: 0689319444

Average customer rating:

A Good Solid effort about some great Soldiers

Buffalo Soldiers 1892-1918 (Elite)
Ron Field
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
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Buffalo Soldiers 1866-91 (Elite)
The Mexican Revolution 1910-20 (Elite)
African American Soldier in the American Civil War: USCT 1862-66 (Warrior)
Native American Mounted Rifleman 1861-65 (Warrior)
American Frontier Lawmen 1850-1930 (Elite)

ASIN: 1841768987
Release Date: 2005-10-10

Book Description

The Buffalo Soldier played an important part in the US Army's operations during the “age of American Imperialism”, between 1898 and 1916. These men campaigned against the Spanish in Cuba, Filipino insurrectionists on Mindanao and Mexican border raiders. They went on to distinguish themselves in the trenches of World War I, and the sum of two divisions of these Doughboys fought with the French Army and the American Expeditionary Force. This book offers a succinct history of these units and the campaigns in which they fought, and it highlights the African-American US soldier, his uniforms and his gear throughout this era in rare photographs and carefully reconstructed color illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Solid effort about some great Soldiers.......2007-01-02

If you want some good illustrated pictures of the Old Army Buffalo Soldiers, than this is a good starting off point.

Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West

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Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West
Lillian Schlissel
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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The Black West: A Documentary and Pictoral History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States
Black Women of the Old West
The Negro Cowboys
The Forgotten Heroes: The Story Of The Buffalo Soldiers
Black Cowboys Of Texas (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students Texas A & M University)

ASIN: 0689833156

Book Description

Book Description

The Buffalo Soldiers were African Americans who served in the Regular Army between the Civil War and World War I and fought in some of the most difficult wars against western Indians. Examining their military service, their social lives, and their interactions with western civilian communities, it uses the words of the soldiers themselves and of contemporary observers, some friendly and some not.

Voices of the Buffalo Soldier draws on a wide variety of periodicals, military records, and letters. It covers such key topics as the legislative origin of the inclusion of black soldiers in the army, the campaigns in which the Buffalo Soldiers fought, their daily lives and interactions with white communities, the few black chaplains and line officers who were permitted to serve, and the bravery of some Buffalo Soldier heroes. All students of the frontier army as well as aficionados with a special interest in the Buffalo Soldiers will find this an invaluable publication.

Â“The first work that presents the correspondence and their primary documents pertaining to black soldiersÂ' lives in the West.Â”Â—Quintard Taylor, University of Washington

All students of the frontier army as well as aficionados with a special interest in the Buffalo Soldiers will find this an invaluable tool. Drawing on a wide variety of periodicals, military records, and letters, the book covers such key topics as the legislative origin of the inclusion of black soldiers in the army.

Customer Reviews:

Well written.......2007-06-06

I wish to thank Frank for his hard work. Knowing first hand how much time and effort it takes to compile such interesting episodes makes one hope he is rewarded.
LOL
Author, Charles D Ezell Sr./ Charles Dale

Incorrect Description - This item is a soft not hard cover .......2007-05-31

I purchased this item as a gift for a friend. I was disappointed that the book is a soft cover not a hard cover as described.

Although the information within is the same whether hard or soft cover, the book was intended as a long lasting reference guide for him. Soft covers don't hold up as well.

He was still pleased with the book.

Making Myth of Emily: Emily West de Zavala and the Yellow Rose of Texas Legend

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Making Myth of Emily: Emily West de Zavala and the Yellow Rose of Texas Legend
Denise McVea
Manufacturer: Auris Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

For years, historians have talked about two women connected to the Yellow Rose of Texas legend: Emily West, the beautiful mulatto servant who allegedly distracted Mexican general Santa Anna to help win the Texas Revolution; and Emily West de Zavala, the rich white woman who employed her.

But were there really two like-named women, one white and one black, so close to the San Jacinto battlefield in April 1836?

Book Description

The American West: no period in our history has defined and shaped us more as a nation. Unique to the U.S., the Old West exerts a power on the American imagination that can still be seen in almost every aspect of our culture. Sadly, as is the case with most other periods, historic acknowledgment of the African American contribution to the West is either totally nonexistent or nowhere near complete.

In The Black West, historian William Loren Katz corrects the record in words and pictures, showing that, from the journeys of Lewis and Clark to the charge at San Juan Hill, African American men and women exerted an influence beyond their numbers in the discovery and definition of the American West.

Customer Reviews:

What I didn't learn about American history..........2000-09-23

What I didn't learn about American history surprised me. I had heard the charges that school textbooks focused on the achievements of white males, but it didn't register with me until I read this book. As a white American, I am thankful to know the contributions made by brave African American pioneers. I believe race relations in our country can only improve if we educate ourselves about other cultures and races and seek the truth. I checked out this book from the library, but I plan to buy a copy for myself and for my son. Thank you, William Loren Katz

Great, great, GREAT!!.......2000-08-30

This is a wonderful history book. It is well written, well documented, and an excellent choice of material. Good photos, too. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy: Black history, women's history, Old West history, and entertaining non-fiction. Some day, I will read this again!

In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the West, 1528-1990

Average customer rating:

A major contribution. . .
Brilliant Work

In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the West, 1528-1990
Quintard Taylor
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

African American Women Confront the West: 1600-2000
The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District, from 1870 Through the Civil Rights Era (The Emil and Kathleen Sick Lecture-Book Series in Western History and Biography)
Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America (George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies)
Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California
L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present (George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies)

ASIN: 0393318893

Amazon.com

Conventional wisdom has it that there were no blacks in the Wild West, but In Search of the Racial Frontier powerfully demonstrates otherwise. Beginning with Esteban, a black slave who accompanied a party of Spanish explorers in Texas and the Southwest in the 1500s, historian Quintard Taylor traces the history of blacks in the West. He documents the experiences of black explorers, black mountain men, black cowboys, buffalo soldiers, and black women who joined clubs and "progressive associations" and helped found all-black towns. Wide-ranging in scope and thoroughly researched, In Search of the Racial Frontier is an invaluable addition to any American history bookshelf.

Book Description

A landmark history of African Americans in the West, In Search of the Racial Frontier rescues the collective American consciousness from thinking solely of European pioneers when considering the exploration, settling, and conquest of the territory west of the Mississippi. From its surprising discussions of groups of African Americans wholly absorbed into Native American culture to illustrating how the largely forgotten role of blacks in the West helped contribute to everything form the Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation ruling to the rise of the Black Panther Party. Quintard Taylor fills a major void in American history and reminds us that the African American experience is unlimited by region or social status.

Customer Reviews:

A major contribution. . ........2005-10-17

What is initially strking about this masterful endeavor is its scope--from its chronological detail to its rich geographic attention to the broader West. An engaging scholarly work that certainly qualifies within the the realm of required reading for any curriculum in U.S. History or African American studies. It is refreshing to find a more recently compiled history of the black experience, one that focuses on the broad range of African American social evolution throughout the American West. I was particularly interested in his narrative on the cultural assimilation of blacks into Native American society. Highly impressive in its bibliographic scope, this work rates as a definitive contribution to more current historiographic material.

Brilliant Work.......1999-10-15

Taylor's book represents a monumental achievement. This is a tremendous book that covers the history of Blacks in the West more completely and with greater detail than any previous work. It easily supplants William Katz's "The Black West" and W. Sherman Savage's "Blacks in the West" as the definitive work in the field. This book should be required reading for every student in American history.

American, African, and Old European Mythologies

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American, African, and Old European Mythologies

Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Mythology & Folklore | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books

Religion | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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Roman and European Mythologies
Asian Mythologies
Greek and Egyptian Mythologies

ASIN: 0226064573

Book Description

Mythologies offers illuminating examples of the workings of myth in the structure of societies past and present—how we create, use, and are guided by systems of myth to answer fundamental questions about ourselves and our world.

Almost all of Mythologies, originally published as a two-volume cloth set, is now available in four paperback volumes. These volumes reproduce the articles, introductory essays, and illustrations as they appeared in the full Mythologies set, and each includes a new Preface by Wendy Doniger.

This volume gathers eighty articles on mythologies from around the world. A section on the Americas and the South Pacific covers myths of native Americans, from the Inuit to the Mesoamericans, about such topics as the cosmos, fire, and the creation of the world. Essays on African mythology range from the 266 basic signs of West Africa to themes such as twins, the placenta, and masks. The final section, covering Celtic, Norse, and Slavic traditions opens with an overview of the Indo-Europeans and concludes with an essay on the religion and myths of Armenia.

The Reconstruction Justice of Salmon P. Chase: In Re Turner and Texas v. White

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The Reconstruction Justice of Salmon P. Chase: In Re Turner and Texas v. White
Harold M. Hyman
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Slavery & Emancipation | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Courts | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

Legal History | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The demise of the Confederacy left a legacy of legal arrangements that raised fundamental and vexing questions regarding the legal rights and status of former slaves and the status of former Confederate states. As Harold Hyman shows, few individuals had greater impact on resolving these difficult questions than Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1865 to 1873.

Hyman argues that in two cases--In Re Turner (1867) and Texas v. White (1869)--Chase combined his abolitionist philosophy with an activist jurisprudence to help dismantle once and for all the deposed machineries of slavery and the Confederacy. In these cases, Chase sought to consolidate the gains of the Civil War era, while demonstrating that the war had both preserved the precious core characteristics of the federal union of states and fundamentally improved the nature of both private and public law.

In Re Turner was a private law case decided at the federal circuit level. It involved a black woman's claim that she, a recent slave, was being held in involuntary servitude. Elizabeth Turner's mother had apprenticed Elizabeth to their former master, who had not abided by his contractual obligations to provide Elizabeth with training and compensation, substantively keeping her in slavery. Chase's decision, which relied upon due process and equal protection implications in the thirteenth amendment and 1866 Civil Rights Act, confirmed the rights of emancipated slaves to bargain and contract with employers on a parity with white workers.

Texas v. White was a public law case decided in the Supreme Court. It revolved around the issue of whether the holders of U.S. bonds seized and sold by the Confederate state of Texas could demand payment after the war from that state's newly reconstructed government. In effect, Chase and his associate justices were asked to determine the legality of actions committed by all former Confederate states and, thus, to define what constituted a state. Chase's opinion reaffirmed the Union's permanence, and that of the constituent states in the federal union, and the states' duty to respect the legal rights and obligations of all citizens because states were people as well as acreages and institutions.

Hyman's exemplary analysis of these cases reveals how their political, legal, and constitutional aspects were so inextricably interwoven. They secured for Chase a rostrum for both moral and legal reform from which he asserted his strong views on the fundamental rights of individuals and states in an era of sporadically increasing federal power. Hyman's study provides a much-needed reevaluation of those cases both in the context of Chase's life and in terms of their mark on history.

This book is part of the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series.

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