Native Americans and African-American Slaves?

Question

In watching Steven Spielberg's "Into the West", there's a scene where Native Americans on a reservation were being guarded by a regiment that included African American soldiers. Can anyone help me find any materials on the interactions and relationships between Native Americans and African-Americans and/or Slaves.

Note to Felicity O:

Why the hell don't you READ the question PROPERLY before going off on an irrelevent rant? All I asked for was INFORMATION, not an OFF-YOUR-HEAD load of crap! If you have nothing useful to say then SAY NOTHING!

Answer 1

I think it good that you have this interest but it's probably going to take more than a little research. African-Americans are inter-twined western history but these details, as you know, have been intentionally left out.
Slaves often escaped and joined Indian tribes. This fact actually lead to our war for which we conquered Florida from the Seminoles.

I have heard that there were entire towns in the west that were blacks.

Blacks fought against native american in the west as Buffalo Soldiers. Many of these men were Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Rides."
The anecdotes go on and on.
The Library of Congress has a web site and is good place to browse.

Answer 2

There's a book that you'll probably be able to get from your library by Tindal and Shi called 'America: a Narrative History' that deals with this and other related subjects. You could also watch a film called 'Glory' which stars Denzel Washington, about a regiment of free Blacks that fought on the side of the North in the American civil war, the film isn't directly relevant to the scene in 'Into the West' but shows why many free Blacks joined the army.

Answer 3

The origins of this are in the Caribbean and South America, not North America. The Conquistadors first put the natives of the islands and of South America to hard forced labor, especially mining gold. However, the spread of European diseases and the unaccustomed labor and the brutality of the Conquistadors devastated the native population and the Spanish and (in Brazil) Portuguese had to find alternative labor. Hence they started to tap into the African slave trade by the end of the sixteenth century. Africans were more resistant to European diseases, well-adapted to the tropical climate, and, as another respondent said, less able to run away. The slave trade to North America was a later offshoot of the South American/Caribbean trade and nowhere near as great in volume. It may be that natives were enslaved in North America but it was not nearly as common there.

Answer 4

Look up information on the Buffalo soldiers. This is what the Native Americans called the black soldiers because their hair resembled the hair on a buffalo.

Answer 5

Haven't seen the film. What I can't understand is why people think that anyone who isn't exactly white should be sympathetic towards others who aren't exactly white. I'm whiter than white, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. It doesn't mean that I sympathise with right-wing extremists who also go salmon pink in the sun. Far from it. When I worked in a centre for asylum seekers, there was a feeling amongst my colleagues that, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion, they should all 'pull-together' because they were all 'in the same boat'. Load of rubbish. Everyone, including myself, has a measure of discrimination and there's little one can do about it. I discriminate against men who think they can fool me into paying for unnecessary repairs to my car simply because I'm a woman.

Answer 6

They settled down together had many babies and prospered, unfortunately though the peace pipe ran out and then drive bys became common place infact there were so many holes in Tauntos wigwam at the end that they used to call it a swiss cheese, he used to crack up at that one infact he is the only man to ever die laughing

Answer 7

they became friends and wanted to join forces to beat the white man