The Black West

School Library Journal

YA Packed with photographs, illustra tions, and historical excerpts, this book is an eye-opening account of the black experience in the West. Included are early explorers, fur traders, gold min ers, soldiers, homesteaders, cowboys, mail order brides, and others. Of these, only black cowboys, such as the thou sands who drove cattle up the Chisolm Trail, were treated as equals by their peers. Discrimination in many forms is documented here. Because many American black history books tend to focus on events occuring in the south and the northeast, this title is a valuable supplemental source. A serious flaw is the skimpy index, which lacks name ac cess for many of the blacks whose fas cinating stories are included. Since the last edition (Anchor, 1973), a chapter on black women of the West has been added to increase the scope of this dy namic book. Keddy Outlaw, Harris County Public Library, Houston