© 2024 Wyoming Public Media
800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240
Wyoming Public Media is a service of the University of Wyoming
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Transmission & Streaming Disruptions

Archives On The Air 51: African Americans In The West—John Ravage Papers

American Heritage Center

John Ravage, a former UW journalism professor, researched the history of many different aspects of the West, including, African American cowboys.

Take, for example, Isom Dart, a former slave from the South turned outlaw in the North.

Dart lived in Wyoming. He was notorious for never harming anyone and had a knack for livestock thievery.

Credit American Heritage Center
Newspaper clipping with a photograph and brief description of Isom Dart, the gentle outlaw, Undated. Box 2, John Ravage Papers.

As a slave, he was a cook and stole most of the livestock he used. In the West, he was called “the Gentle Outlaw.”

Another former slave, Robert Anderson, also adapted to the Western lifestyle his own way.

Anderson ran away at 21, joined the Union Army, worked a number of odd jobs, and saved enough money to acquire a homestead in Nebraska.

Anderson wanted to help the U.S. create its own forest land in the Midwest but thought that the goal was too lofty.

Anderson became a successful rancher and husband in the West.

For more stories on African American Cowboys, come comb through the John Ravage collection at UW’s American Heritage Center.