Black Pioneers: Images of the Black Experience on the North American Frontier

by John W. Ravage

Demonstrates the role of African American pioneers in Westward expansion

Genres: History

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[John E]

The images are beautiful and very interesting, but the text is a slog, disjointed and even with the limited extent of the text, repetitive. The layout of the pictures, captions, and text was confusing and required much page flipping to coordinate. Luckily the pictures are the center of the book and are well worth having them together in one book.

[Marilyn Sue Michel]

The author seems to have started with a collection of photographs, then cobbled together some stories about the Black Pioneers. I didn't see anything erroneous, and the pictures are good.

[Mary Tufts]

Absolutely positively excellent. This writer did copious amounts of research and the illustrations are beautiful within. I am so glad that I read this book and I learned so much in the experience.

[Theshiney]

really, i think this book would have been better served as a "coffee table" book. as it is, there are plenty of other sources to gain a better understanding of the black experience on the frontier- but hardly any that offer the range of photographs that are, indeed, necessary to fully grasp the experience and to begin to unravel the stereotyped versions of history that clog our media. it should have focused on the photos. blurbs would've made the information more concise and the overall experience of the book more engaging.

note: i especially enjoyed bill pickett in full bulldoggin action!! i didnt think to look, but now... here's a web version. if you're unfamiliar, check it out: teeth- no hands!