Black Heroes of the Wild West (TOON Graphics)

Black Heroes of the Wild West (TOON Graphics) — page 2 — From the Undefeated by Kwame Alexander illustrated by Kadir Selson Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Courtesy Kadir Nelson studio documentation chronicling the lives of black pioneers cowboys and homesteaders on the Great Plains and I was excited to discover enthralling figures like Bill Pickett Nat Love and Mary Fields Before then most of my knowledge of the Old West had been limited to books movies and paintings that featured cowboys and homesteaders of a much lighter hue As I conducted research for my picture book Heart and Soul The Story of America and African Americans which was also partly set during this time period I was surprised to learn that in some areas of the Old West up to a third of the settler population was African American This is why I’m so pleased to see a volume that celebrates this very fact Black Heroes of the Wild West is a brilliant and entertaining offering from James Otis Smith Through sharp and evocative storytelling in the exciting medium of comics lesser-known African American historical figures will be introduced to new generations of readers Smith’s humor and wit shine throughout and his masterful graphic design works hand in hand with the storytelling the panel sequences are sometimes silent while at other times they progress through dialogue or captions Fascinating people like Mary Fields Bass Reeves and Bob Lemmons are given new life and the endnotes are full of informative facts and images that testify to the essential role of African Americans Native Americans and Hispanic vaqueros in the Old West Smith’s début offers an extraordinary introduction into this facet of America’s rich history It’s time that we hear every American’s story from every background and creed we’ve all worked together to weave the grand tapestry of America 7 Not all picture-making needs to be reportorial and historically accurate Art can also be a legitimate way for artists to portray what they'd like to see and to let their imagination run free Above in an image called High Noon Kadir Nelson depicts a group of black men as the central figures of a typical showdown in the Wild West Red White and Weary Blues is one of Nelson's illustrations for The Undefeated written by Kwame Alexander The authors wanted to honor the spirit of the nearly 200,000 newly liberated slaves who joined the Union Army after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation

Black Heroes of the Wild West (TOON Graphics) — page 3 — for visual readers toon graphics For Yvonne Photo courtesy Ursuline Sisters of Toledo Ohio Encyclopædia Britannica

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