Five centuries of African American history in the West.

The author overviews the history of African Americans in the Aerican West, an experience replete with examples of resistance, negotiation, conflict, and cooperation that contradict the region's self image of broad vistas populated by a proud, self-reliant citizenry jealously guarding its individual rights, equality and freedom. From roots early in the 19th century, African American historiography of the West proliferated in the 1980s to reconcile Asian American, Chicano, and Native American histories and describe the experiences of black westerners as a substantial component of the region's population. Taylor examines Spanish origins in the West; slavery in the region; African American westward migrations after the Civil War; the history of the "Buffalo Soldiers," the approximately 25,000 men who served in four regiments, the 9th and 10th Cavalries and the 24th and 25th Infantries, between 1866 and 1917; black women in the region; the urban West; the unprecedented migration of African Americans to the West in World War II; the black West after the Watts Uprising of 1965; and the Rodney King Uprising of 1992. Following the essay, a bibliography of recommended reading, a chronology of events from 1528 to 2000, and a glossary are provided.