Book Review of
Black Texans
African American have lived in Texas for more than four hundred years―longer than in any other region of the United States. Beginning with the arrival of the first African American in 1528, Alwyn Barr, in Black Texans, examines the African American experience in Texas during the periods of exploration and colonization, slavery, Reconstruction, the struggle to retain the freedoms gained, the twentieth-century urban experience, and the modern civil rights movement. Barr discusses each period of African-American history in terms of politics, violence, and legal status; labor and economic status; education; and social life.
Black Texans includes the history of the buffalo soldiers and the cowboys on Texas cattle drives, along with the achievements of notable African-American individuals in Texas history, from the Estevan the explorer through legislator Norris Wright Cuney and boxer Jack Johnson to state senator Barbara Jordan. Barr carries the story up to the present day in this second edition, which includes a new preface a new chapter on the years 1970-95, and a revised index.
Grace's Review
I read Black Texans so that I could read something about the African American Cowboy, but it taught me so much more.
I love books that teach me interesting facts about cowboys, cattle drives, and the west. This book gave me more than that, and I enjoyed it. If you are wanting a book that is a little different on Texas History, this might help you as it focuses on the African American people of Texas rather than everyone.
It found it helpful to learn more about the topic of the Black Cowboy, but it also reminded me about the segregation and hate towards Black people.
It is a very factual book, but I think it is an important books because it covers some facts of history that we forget or don’t get taught.