The westward migration of nearly half a million Americans in the
mid-nineteenth century looms large in U.S. history. Classic images
of rugged Euro-Americans traversing the plains in their prairie
schooners still stir the popular imagination. But this traditional
narrative, no matter how alluring, falls short of the actual - and
far more complex - reality of the overland trails. Among the
diverse peoples who converged on the western frontier were African
American pioneers - men, women, and children. Whether enslaved or
free, they too were involved in this transformative movement. Sweet
Freedom's Plains is a powerful retelling of the migration story
from their perspective. Tracing the journeys of black overlanders
who traveled the Mormon, California, Oregon, and other trails,
Shirley Ann Wilson Moore describes in vivid detail what they left
behind, what they encountered along the way, and what they expected
to find in their new, western homes. She argues that African
Americans understood advancement and prosperity in ways unique to
their situation as an enslaved and racially persecuted people, even
as they shared many of the same hopes and dreams held by their
white contemporaries. For African Americans, the journey westward
marked the beginning of liberation and transformation. At the same
time, black emigrants' aspirations often came into sharp conflict
with real-world conditions in the West. Although many scholars have
focused on African Americans who settled in the urban West, their
early trailblazing voyages into the Oregon Country, Utah Territory,
New Mexico Territory, and California deserve greater attention.
Having combed censuses, maps, government documents, and white
overlanders' diaries, along with the few accounts written by black
overlanders or passed down orally to their living descendants,
Moore gives voice to the countless, mostly anonymous black men and
women who trekked the plains and mountains. Sweet Freedom's Plains
places African American overlanders where they belong - at the
center of the western migration narrative. Their experiences and
perspectives enhance our understanding of this formative period in
American history.
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