Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West

Schlissel, Lillian. Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West. 1995. 80pp. Lexile 1090.

After the Civil War, many blacks moved West, hoping for a better life.  This beautifully designed book introduces a range of individuals and groups that pursued this often dangerous goal.  Among them is Jim Beckwourth, a mountain man famous for his trapping and prowess as a guide.  Black cowboys Nat Love and Bill Pickett each have a short chapter as does “Stagecoach Mary” Fields, a women who became a stagecoach driver at age fifty.  Less showy but also important were the black homesteaders and business people who formed communities in the West. Black-and-white photographs make the past more immediate in this attractive book about a lesser-known aspect of the West.

Fiction Tie-in:  In Black Storm Comin' by Diane Lee Wilson, a fine adventure story set just before the Civil War, a biracial adolescent boy whose white father has run off must take care of his ailing mother and his younger siblings on a wagon train heading West.  Colton's mother, who is black, urges her son to ride ahead to Sacramento to deliver freedom papers to her enslaved sister in there.  How does he hope to get to California?  By becoming a rider for the Pony Express.   A terrific story with plenty of action alongside serious issues.

Across America on an Emigrant Train

Murphy, Jim. Across America on an Emigrant Train. 1993, available in paperback. 150pp. Lexile 1180.

In this outstanding book, readers take a journey across America by train in 1879 with 29-year-old Robert Louis Stevenson, starting in New York City and ending in California.  The text uses many quotes from Stevenson’s writing to add color and detail about what it was like to travel in trains filled with mostly poor immigrants.  Murphy expands beyond Stevenson’s journey to descriptions of various trains, how they worked, accidents and problems, the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, and the effect the railroads had on the countryside and Native Americans.  Black-and-white etchings and photographs with useful captions show train workers, the scenery, the interiors and exteriors of many trains, and more. 

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  While Stevenson conveys the excitement of travel and the rich possibilities of the West, he also develops the theme of how Native Americans were treated as the West was settled and the railroads built.  Have students look in the text for Stevenson's own words on the subject and how Murphy integrates them into the whole.

The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party

Calabro, Marian. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party. 1999. 192pp. Lexile 1020.

The Donner Party's grim journey is associated with cannibalism, but there is much more to the story.  The trip from Illinois to California described in compelling prose paints a picture of life in a wagon train and the difficulties of travel.  The party made a bad decision that stranded them in the Sierras in snowy November, thus leading to starvation conditions.  Letters give the viewpoint of a 13-year-old girl who lived through the disaster in this gripping account of a gruesome historical episode. This book falls into 6th-10th grade Lexiles; its high appeal topic makes it a good choice across the grade levels.

Reading Std #7:  Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, visually and quantitatively, and in words.  The PBS show “American Experience” has amassed a variety of information and tools on the topic of the Donner Party.  Their website on it includes a short diary from the actual trip; an interactive map; a 80-minute video; and a teacher’s guide with discussion questions and activities. PBS website