Julian C. Chambliss, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History & Coordinator of the Africa & African American Studies Program

Rollins College

African Americans and the West

What does the

“Frontier

Experience”

mean?

Context

York, slave to William Clark, is one of the earliest

example of African Americans in the west (1804-

1806).

Battle of New Orleans

600 black troops help Andrew Jackson defeat the British

Manifest Destinyleads to a brutal

Civil Warthat creates a new context

for the African American

western experience.

RESISTANCE TO

RECONSTRUCTION

The Redeemed South?

"Everything Points to a Democratic Victory This Fall”

• OUT OF THE SOUTH

• INTO THE WEST

–Exodusters

• In 1874 Benjamin Singleton and his associates formed the Edgefield Real Estate and Homestead Association in Tennessee. This association sought out the best locations for black settlements. Singleton tried to establish a well-planned and organized movement to Kansas, but by 1879, the unruly, mass Exodus had overwhelmed his efforts.

Aerial view of Nicodemus from the Northeast, 1953

http://www.nps.gov/features/nicodemus/buildings.htm

ALL BLACK TOWNS IN OKLAHOMA

http://guides.tulsalibrary.org/content.php?pid=348131&sid=2847897

Main College Building in Langston, OK, ca 1900

THE BATTLE

FOR THE WEST

Buffalo soldiers of the 25th Infantry, Ft. Keogh, Montana

9th Cavalry Regiment / 10th Cavalry Regiment

24th Infantry Regiment / 25th Infantry Regiment

Other Duties: Johnson Country War

Spanish

American

War

THE ROLE OF

MINORITIES IN THE

INDUSTRIAL WEST

The Cowboy’ Diverse Reality• MEXICAN

COWBOY

– VAQUERO (from

Spanish for cow)

– Starting in 1500s

these Spanish

landowners

mounted Native

Americans on

horse to manage

cattle.

Black Cowboys

Often omitted from the popular dialogue countless African

American served as cowboys in the west.

MYTH & MARVELS

Telephone lines over NYC 1880s

AS THE 19TH CENTURY CAME TO A CLOSE,

RAPID URBANIZATION TRIGGERED A

COMPLEX ENGAGEMENT WITH THE FRONTIER.

THE DIVERSITY OF THE REAL FRONTIER WAS

REPLACED BY AN IMAGINARY FRONTIER.

Dime Novel as Collective Mythology

The Real Nat

Love• Former slave

• Worked in the

emerging cattle

industry after Civil

War.

• Worked across the

southwest and

Mexico

• Won cowboy contest

in 1876 that garnered

nickname Deadwood

Dick.

THE NEW

MYTHOLOGY

FILM JOINED PRINT IN CREATING

A NEW WHITEWASHED MYTHOLOGY OF THE WEST

Birth of a Nation

https://archive.org/movies/thumbnails.php?identifier=dw_griffith_birth_of_a_nation

COUNTERPOINT:

Race Films

• Films produced by

African-American

for African

Americans allowed

them to show a

fuller memory of

the western

experience.

IN THE END, THE RE-IMAGINED

WESTERN NARRATIVE SUPPORTED

VIEWS THAT DIMINISHED AFRICAN-

AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE

U.S. EXPERIENCE. THE TRUTH

HOWEVER IS THAT AFRICAN-

AMERICANS WERE A PART OF THE

WESTERN EXPERIENCE.

Thank You!!

• Dr. Julian C. Chambliss

• Twitter: @JulianChambliss

• www.julianchambliss.com