How did black cowboys contribute to the history of the American West? This book shows how black cowboys played an important role in the exploration and development of the US. Black cowboys, along with black jockeys, black abolitionists, and black Deputy US Marshals were crucial players in African American history. A Newark, NJ-based, African American, public school teacher Miles J. Dean, was so inspired by black cowboys, he rode his horse from New York to California to celebrate the contributions African Americans made in the settling of the United States. Becoming a cowboy was a big dream of Dean's. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Dean first learned about cowboys from watching television. Like any boy at that time, he wanted to be like those heroes and pretended to be a cowboy. He galloped through the streets on his bicycle, ambushing outlaws on street corners. However, none of the cowboys he saw were African-American. At age 23, he saw Sidney Poitier play a cowboy in the 1972 film, Buck and the Preacher, and realized he too could be a black cowboy. The film inspired him to explore the African American history he never learned in school, specifically the contributions made during the 1500-1800s when horses were the primary means of transportation. He knew he wanted to make a cross-country journey and retrace the steps of these early pioneers; it was just a question of when.On September 22, 2007, Dean, 57, brought his horse, Sankofa, an Arabian stallion into New York City and rode to the African Burial Grounds, in lower Manhattan to begin his journey. Granted an unpaid leave of absence from his 5th grade social studies position, he embarked on this odyssey he had dreamed about for nearly 35 years. He finally traveled like a black cowboy! Six months later, Dean completed the trip with a celebration at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. In between he visited several historical monuments, paying homage to history's forgotten heroes, including the black jockeys at Kentucky's Churchill Downs and soldiers at Tennessee's African American Civil War Cemetery. His travels through Memphis and Little Rock evoked his own memories of growing up during the Civil Rights Movement. His ride through the harsh deserts of the Southwest and across California's formidable Chocolate Mountains allowed him to re-enact the conditions and perils faced by early cowboys and marshals, both white and African American. On the Trail of the Ancestors: A Black Cowboy's Ride Across America recounts how one man followed his childhood dream. Dean's commitment to his journey helped him battle a brain tumor; his gratitude to his ancestors fortified his resilience; and his integrity to honoring heroes in history via his horse kept him on road.During his six-month, 5,000-mile journey, Dean addressed people at schools and colleges, community organizations, and penal institutions. He met hundreds of Americans through informal encounters at campgrounds, Walmart parking lots, restaurants, and country stores. With each, he shared his reasons for the journey and inspired others to fulfill their dreams.As Dean travels atop his horse from state to state, the reader learns about African Americans who contributed to US history. Dean's relationship with his horse Sankofa provides insights about what it is like to ride a horse for six months. Whether navigating dangerous terrain or city traffic, riding long distances, handling medical problems for him and the horse, or facing the challenges of acquiring the four relief horses, his anecdotes regale readers with the visceral pleasures and difficulties of such a journey. Dean's story of making his dream to become a cowboy a reality demonstrates that an ordinary person can accomplish the extraordinary.
About the Author: Lisa K. Winkler is a journalist and an educator. She met Miles Dean while serving as a literacy consultant in Newark, NJ. When she heard about his cross-country journey on horseback, she became fascinated by the history she never knew. Her curiosity landed her an assignment to research black jockeys, culminating in "The Kentucky Derby's Forgotten Jockeys" for Smithsonian magazine's website (April 24, 2009). Her other writing includes two essays published in book anthologies; one in I'm Going to College- Not You!: Surviving the College Search with My Child (St. Martin's Press, 2010), and the other in Wisdom of our Mothers (Familia Press, 2010. A newspaper reporter (Danbury News-Times, CT), before becoming a teacher, Lisa writes for professional journals and for Education Update, a newspaper based in New York City. Among her interviewees - who include authors, college presidents, scientists, and artists - was Miles Dean in February, 2009. She has written several teacher study guides for Penguin Books. She holds a BA from Vassar College and an MA in Urban Education from New Jersey City University. An avid reader, knitter, and cyclist, she lives with her husband in the greater New York area and has three grown children.