Westerns were among the most racist of the white man's repertoire of racist genre. Everything he touches is about white supremacy and black degradation, but among the first strategies was the western. His mother movies simply omitted black people or featured them as maids and butlers. But the western focused on white versus red - the invading peckerwood taking over the country and using the media to make the First Nation people appear to be the enemies. Defending themselves and their culture, they were presented to white and black households as "Indian massacres." The atrocities of white folks were rarely mentioned, and most of the land that they procured was presented as having been "earned" or God-given - hence, the concept of what came to be known as "Manifest Destiny." This particular book is one of three dedicated to westerns (the other two being "Bonanza" and "Laramie"). In this volume, dedicated to "The Rifleman", there were 168 episodes, and ran from 1958 to 1963. I watched the majority of the episodes on You Tube and on cable television for research preparing for this book. A channel called MeTV aired back-to-back episodes for several years and I caught a number of episodes using that process. In my view, Lucas McCain and his son Mark had the most impressive and thought-provoking father-son relationship in the history of television, with the possible exception of Andy Griffith and his TV son "Opie" during the reign of "The Andy Griffith Show". It is for that reason that the cover of this volume of the trilogy featured Lucas and Mark without McCain's vaunted rifle. He may have been a sharpshooter, but above all else he was an incredibly devoted father. A number of episodes highlight the relationship between father and son - without a shot being fired. Another point worthy of mention is that Lucas McCain may have been one of the first or few male feminists on television. Sure, he held on to the "woman's place is in the kitchen and the bedroom" stereotypes, but he also defended women's rights, supported the General store when it was headed by three different women over the years, and backed up any woman who was insulted by a man, and passed on these lessons to young Mark. These incidents will be pointed out in this analysis. In this writer's view, land, territory and on-going struggles to maintain ranches that were indirectly pilfered from First Nation people. Hence, this book and the hope that those who read it will conduct additional research on how this country was formed and the myth of the white cowboy at a time when black cowboys were in the majority and Mexican vaqueros were riding all over the land. When Mexicans were featured they were usually of the "bandito" variety, but of course the Mexican women were seductive and fine. The few natives who were featured became friends of Lucas and Mark, such as was the case in the episode titled, "The Silent Knife" which featured a native teen named Brad Western, two episodes involving Native marshal Sam Buckhart (played by Michael Ansara) in two episodes, "The Indian" and "The Raid." There were also two episodes that featured the late, great Sammy Davis, Jr. They were, "Two Ounces of Tin" and "The Most Amazing Man." Despite the weaponized title of the show, "The Rifleman" was what Lucas McCain became known as. In fact, there were a number twenty-eight (28) episodes where no shots were fired at all. At the end of each episode review/analysis the words "no shots fired" will be listed.
About the Author: Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.