"Black Heroes of the Wild West" by James Otis Smith

This is a fantastic book!  It tells the stories of three Black Americans and their real-life adventures in the Wild West.  And it does it in a graphic-novel-like style that is engaging and fun.  I found it at the library and might just have to pick up a copy to add to my homeschooling history shelves.

The three heroes it features are "Stagecoach Mary" Fields, Bass Reeves, and Bob Lemmons.  I actually got this from the library because I'm working on an article about Mary Fields for my next Prairie Times column, and I thought this was going to be just a standard biography, text and maybe a few illustrations.  But nope!  Full-color, fully illustrated little biographies.  AND it has real photographs here and there of actual Black cowboys and pioneers.  AND it has a six pages at the end about other famous Black westerners.  Yup, I really think I'm going to need a copy of my own.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG because it does include some violence and a tense moment or two, albeit non-gory and brief.