African Americans in the West

From freed slaves fleeing the Reconstruction-Era South to African American cowboys to millions moving in massive migrations in the early 20th century. African Americans played an important role in the settling of the western United States. But did the West really deliver a life of greater freedom and opportunity? To answer that question, African Americans in the West tells the sweeping story of the black American experience in the western United States from colonial times to the present.

African Americans in the West highlights a number of pivotal moments in the lives of black Americans, including the expansion of the slave trade, the post-Civil War migrations and the more modest 20th-century relocations, and the emergence of West Coast black activism and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. Drawing on a surge of recent research, it offers a fresh look at the ways African Americans influenced-and were influenced by-life on the frontier.

There is no way to understand the American West-past, present, and future-without understanding the unique perspectives of the incredible variety of its peoples. ABC-CLIO' is Cultures in the American West series takes on the challenging task of demythologizing the most heavily mythologized region in the United States. Each volume, written by experts in their respective fields, focuses on one of the many groups to call the West home. Volumes include discussions of origins, migrations, communtiy development, and historical change, as well as short biographies.