Black History Month 2

The American history that is often revealed to people for the first time during Black History Month, is particularly appealing. For me, I'm particularly in that history as it concerns the American West.
The Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th Century, is termed that because of the association of the Black-American art scene as flourished in Harlem, New York City. A recently published title from Routledge Publishing, shows that this was not an East Coast phenomena. the anthology, The Harlem Renaissance in the American West: The New Negro's Western Experience (New Directions in American History) show that artists, musicians, playwrights, club owners, and more in African American communities in the American West participated fully in the cultural renaissance.
My friend, historian Charlotte Hinger, has an entry in this book: "Black Renaissance in Helena and Laramie: Hatched on Top of the Rocky Mountains." Helena. My current residence. So wonderful to have this reference.
Another often-missed piece of history about blacks in the west is in Erich Martin Hicks' Rescue at Pine Ridge: Based on a True American Story. The book page states: ”Rescue at Pine Ridge is the story of the 9th Cavalry from its Congressional conception in 1866, to the rescue of the famed 7th Cavalry by the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers.... The 7th Cavalry was entrapped again after the Little Big Horn Massacre, fourteen years later by the Lakota Nation, the day after the Wounded Knee Massacre. Only after enduring an all night forced-march in a snow blizzard, the 7th Cavalry are saved from sure annihilation by the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Solders." Hicks (unique in his own right) has written fascinating U.S. history. A movie is in the works.
Author/historian Troy D. Smith has his charismatic character, Alfred Mann, ending up with the Buffalo Soldiers in his powerful historical fiction title, Bound for the Promise-Land. This excellent book had been recently reprinted, and is also available as an ebook. It won a SPUR award in 2001.

These books will increase your knowledge of American History. Don't pass them up.

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