Jim Beckwourth

 I just finished watching Taylor Sheridan's historical fiction series 1883, the prequal to his hit series Yellowstone. I haven't had a chance to watch all of Yellowstone yet, but 1883 is an excellent series that I highly recommend. One of the characters, Thomas, is a black Pinkerton agent/former Union and Buffalo Soldier played by actor LaMonica Garret. Thomas plays a major role in moving a group of German immigrants to the Western frontier. If you love historical drama, you'll love 1883!

I don't know that much about African Americans who contributed to the settlement of the American West, but today I'm blogging about one sent to me by my friend Mary, whose name was Jim Beckwourth. Take a look at some of his story that's available on the Jim Beckwourth site:

Jim Beckwourth was an African American who played a major role in the early exploration and settlement of the American West. Although there were people of many races and nationalities on the frontier, Beckwourth was the only African American who recorded his life story, and his adventures took him from the everglades of Florida to the Pacific Ocean and from southern Canada to northern Mexico. He dictated his autobiography to Thomas D. Bonner, an itinerant Justice of the Peace in the gold fields of California, in 1854-55. After Bonner "polished up" Beckwourth's rough narrative, The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians was published by Harper and Brothers in 1856. The book apparently achieved a certain amount of popular success, for it was followed by an English edition in the same year, a second printing two years later, and a French translation in 1860. Beckwourth's role in American history was often dismissed by historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many were quite blatant in their prejudices, refusing to give any credence to a "mongrel of mixed blood." And many of his acquaintances considered the book something of a joke. But Beckwourth was a man of his times, and for the early fur trappers of the Rockies, the ability to "spin a good yarn" was a skill valued almost as highly as marksmanship or woodsmanship. And while Beckwourth certainly had a tendency to exaggerate numbers or to occasionally make himself the hero of events that happened to other people, later historians have discovered that much of what Beckwourth related in his autobiography actually occurred. For his full story check out Jim Beckwourth! I wasn't familiar with him. Were you? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!