Showing results for "Westerns" in Black & African American

The westward expansion of the United States has a far bigger and more complex history than Hollywood westerns and high school textbooks would have us believe. Even before the establishment of the British colonies on the nation’s eastern shore, the American West was beginning to take shape—including the arrival of the first people of African descent to set foot in North America in the late 1400s. From the very beginning, the history of the American West has been intertwined with the Black experience.

Author and journalist Cody McDevitt tells the story of one of the worst civil rights injustices in Western Pennsylvania history. In 1923, in response to the fatal shooting of four policemen, the mayor of Johnstown ordered every African American and Mexican immigrant who had lived in the city for less than seven years to leave. They were given less than a day to move or would face crippling fines or jail time and were forced out at gunpoint.