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EDUCATION EXTRA.


Byline: The Register-Guard

The Legend of Bass Reeves Bass Reeves (July, 1838 - January, 1910) is thought by most to be one of the first Black Americans to receive a commission as a U.S. Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi River. ;

Being the True and Fictional

Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West

By Gary Paulsen

Wendy Lamb Books, 2006

Ages 10 to 13

Many men are remembered as heroes of the American West: Wyatt Earp The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking.

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp
, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill Buffalo Bill, 1846–1917, American plainsman, scout, and showman, b. near Davenport, Iowa. His real name was William Frederick Cody. His family moved (1854) to Kansas, and after the death of his father (1857) he set out to earn the family living, working for  and Kit Carson, to name a few. But many of these same men were really scoundrels and outlaws who have been romanticized in movies and books.

And yet, writes Gary Paulsen, "there was a man who truly qualified as legendary and heroic." His name was Bass Reeves. Born a slave, Reeves was an African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race.  who lived from 1824 until 1910 and lived to become one of the most successful federal marshals in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. .

Paulsen has written a "true and fictional" account detailing the life and times of Bass Reeves, breaking the story into three sections: "The Boy," "The Land" and "The Man."

The story begins with Bass and his mother living on a homestead with a drunken, somewhat mean master. One day Bass sees an Indian dressed in war paint. Although slaves may not own guns, when he tells the master, he is allowed to have one in order to protect the homestead from a potential Indian attack. The master teaches Bass to play poker so he'll have a partner. When Bass wins, the master cheats, and Bass catches him at it. In the ensuing fight, the master is knocked unconscious or dead; Bass' mother is afraid for him and tells him he must leave for the North and freedom.

The second part tells of Bass hiding and living almost like an animal in Indian Territory Indian Territory, in U.S. history, name applied to the country set aside for Native Americans by the Indian Intercourse Act (1834). In the 1820s, the federal government began moving the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw) of the  - present-day Oklahoma. After saving an Indian girl's life, he lives for 22 years in safety with the Creek Indians. By that time the Civil War is over, and Bass is a free man.

In the last section, Bass becomes a federal marshal, gets married twice and raises a family. He searches for the worst kind of outlaws: killers, rapists, torturers. He rides alone and tries to bring his prisoners back alive. He did this more than 3,000 times.

- Janie Diment, librarian, Monroe Middle School Monroe Middle School, or Monroe Middle, is located at 5105 Bedford Avenue in the Benson community of Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1926, Monroe is one of the oldest middle school buildings in Omaha, and in 1956 it became the first junior high school in the Omaha school , Eugene

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Title Annotation:Schools; BOOK PICKS
Publication:The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Date:Oct 23, 2006
Words:369
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