African American Men in the American West, 1528-1990

The first black men to enter the West were Spanish- speaking settlers from central Mexico. They were followed by free English-speaking fur traders and by slaves primarily in Texas. Some males arrived in California during the 1850s, initiating a voluntary migration of farmers, miners, soldiers, and cowboys through the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, black men settled mainly in the cities and worked in unskilled nonunion occupations. By World War II, far more migrants had arrived in response to wartime work opportunities. War work allowed both newcomers and old residents access to skilled unionized employment for the first time. Discrimination continued, however, prompting a civil rights movement in the West in the 1960s that paralleled activities in the South. That movement opened new opportunities for the skilled and educated. However, postwar deindustrialization moved many unskilled African American men to the margins of the Western urban economy.