North from Mexico: The First Black Settlers in the U.S. West

The first Black settlers in what is now the western United States were Spanish speakers who came north from what is now central Mexico. Their roots there began in 1519, when Black men were among the Spanish conquistadores who invaded and destroyed the Aztec Empire, … Read MoreNorth from Mexico: The First Black Settlers in the U.S. West

Colonel Joseph Louis Cook (ca. 1737-1814)

Joseph Louis Cook was an Afro-Iroquois leader and a Commissioned Officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Cook was born Nia-man-rigounant around the year 1737 in an area now known as Schuylerville, New York. His father was African, and his mother was … Read MoreColonel Joseph Louis Cook (ca. 1737-1814)