My Heroes, My People: African Americans and Native Americans in the West
 

An artist's look at how the West was won by some -- and lost by others.

This unique album introduces readers to African Americans and Native Americans who had a role in the westward expansion of the United States, as fur traders, stagecoach drivers, cowboys, soldiers, nurses, mail-order brides, and tribal chiefs. Through Morgan Monceaux's striking portraits (executed in oil pastels, paint, markers, and collage) and the accompanying biographical sketches and historical notes, readers meet some of the men and women -- black and red -- whose names have come down to us through legend and history. Some are well known; others were minor players on a great stage whose lives can be traced through a photograph, a letter, or a government record. Taken together, they give us an extraordinary picture of the West and an appreciation of the human need to be free -- for as African American settlers were enjoying newfound freedom, their Native American neighbors were fighting to preserve theirs.