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What is the significance of the frontier with regard to African Americans? Well, it turns
out that because of the very nature of the frontier, frontier regions are extremely significant
to the study of African Americans. Because the frontier is a meeting point between two
or more groups, that point tends to be unstable and constantly shifting. Because the cultural
base is constantly shifting – ebbing and flowing as the various groups interact with
one another – frontiers tend to be loosely structured regions where social rules are
not yet firmly established. We’re used to seeing the history of African Americans in
terms of North and South, regions of the United States the rules were relatively quickly established
– Black folks knew that if they saw a white person approaching them on the sidewalk they
had best step off the sidewalk or face severe consequences – in the west and on the frontier
those rules were not in place. So what decided in the west who would step off of the sidewalk?
For that we have Smith and Wesson. So in a frontier and the lack its social structure
we have a very dangerous climate – in San Francisco in the early 1850s there were five
murders every six days. But for that same reason for black folks on the frontier were
in a region field with lots of opportunities and relatively few social restrictions as
long as you were not one of the five people murdered every six days.
We have discussed the role of the frontier from the perspective of New Spain, but one
of the other aspects of this frontier complex is what will later become the United States.
Just like in New Spain, blacks in the United States found many opportunities in the frontier.
Remember, those who are well established and comfortable are not going to go venturing
off into faraway frontier provinces. So, just as in the New Spain in the United States frontier
we should expect to find significant numbers of poor folks including people of color.
We meet one of those frontier characters in the first chapter of Rudolph Lapp’s book
Blacks in Gold Rush California. While the life of James Beckwourth was very rugged,
dangerous, and filled with hardship, he also enjoyed a degree of social freedom he would
have never experienced had he remained in Virginia where he was born. He was a very
tough mountain man whose rugged existence limited not so much by race as it was by the
simple fact that frontier life was rather difficult. In fact, he’s one of those individuals
I referred to earlier, who, if you met him on the sidewalk in this frontier setting – whether
you were black or white – my guess is that you would probably step out of his way.
What about women on the frontier? If the rules regarding race on the frontier are not as
firmly entrenched, would you expect to find women on the frontier confined to the home
in domestic roles? Well, what we fine is that just as the rules regarding race are relatively
relaxed, the roles regarding gender are also blurred. That is the reason why – in addition
to Annie Oakley – we find some gun totting women out in the west. Because of the relatively
loose social structure of the west, you find women in roles one simply couldn’t imagine
seeing them in if they were in a place like Boston or New York during the same period.
As with Beckwourth, the relative social freedom women experienced in the west – or at least
the general lack of social constraint – afforded some women unprecedented economic opportunities.
In the mid to late-1800s, women entrepreneurs like Mary Ellen Pleasant and Biddy Mason amassed
fortunes in the millions. Mary Ellen Pleasant’s fortune was assessed at upwards of $30 million
(that’s 1860s money). So, the lawlessness and gun slinging of the
west presented both danger and opportunity for Blacks on the frontier. That is the nature
and the significance of the frontier as it relates to blacks.
That’s it for this episode. You can see everything you’ve seen here as well as the
entire archive of episodes at my website www.africanelements.org. You can also join the discussion on our Facebook
Group African Elements. I'm Darius Spearman. Thank you for watching.