African American Towns of the American West

Photo of Nicodemus. Courtesy of Kansas Sampler Foundation. https://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/historyresults.php?id=287.

May 22, 2019

Written by Laurier Hampton

Cowboys, the Pony Express, saloons, bounty hunters and the frontier are some of the more common characteristics of the American Wild West that come to mind. This romanticized version of events neglects the stories of enterprising African American men and women, who traversed the United States to the frontier without the support of their government. 19th Century America was not only about stories of the Wild West but also a struggle that ensued among recently freed or escaped African American slaves before and after the Civil War.

Seeking economic and social freedom, African Americans living in the South migrated North prior to emancipation. Unfortunately, the North was not as welcoming as many migrants hoped. White Northerners reacted to their arrival with hostility due to the fear of the North succumbing to a large number…