Philip Durham

As the title suggests, this is rather old-fashioned, but it was in its day pioneering work on a neglected topic. IT does focus specifically on the black cowboys, and to some extent outlaws, not the buffalo soldiers 9who are mentioned for about two pages) or black homesteaders. It does begin wit an overview of black presence in America from those who came with the Spanish in te16th century to the mountain men like Jim Beckwith and the explorers with Lewis and Clark and Fremont. It also discusses black who came west as slaves of the Natives, or who freely joined them. But its main concern is the actual cowboys whose job was herding cattle, and who often displayed great skill at riding, roping and the rest of the cowboy skills.… (meer)