Black Pioneers.

Black Pioneers

John W. Ravage

University of Utah Press

1795 East South Campus Drive, #101, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9402

9780874809411, $22.95, www.uofupress.com

With the end of the American Civil War, the nation's west and the southwest saw an immense migration of former slaves seeking economic prosperity and an escape from the continuing hostility and repression by the white southern populace. To this day it still surprises many that roughly one-third of all 19th century 'cowboys' were black men. Now in an updated and expanded second edition, "Black Pioneers: Images Of The Black Experience On The North American Frontier" by John W. Ravage (Professor Emeritus of Mass Media, University of Wyoming" is a seminal work of meticulous scholarship in which such disparate elements of historical data as oral histories, period photographic images, diary and journal entries, and other written documents reflective of the black experience in the Western united States and Canada have been retrieved from personal and academic archives to present a coherent study that is as informed as it is informative. Of special note in this new addition is the inclusion of sections on black entertainers and ranchers, a chapter on the dating of historic photographs and their genealogical significance, as well as an expanded bibliography related to the black frontier experience. Profusely illustrated throughout, "Black Pioneers" is a welcome and strongly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Black History Studies and 20th Century American Western History Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.