Rare Books and Manuscript Division, Library of Congress .

People of African descent have been part of the American West since the first Spanish came into the area in the early 1500s. In fact, they lived in what would later become New Mexico and California long before the English settled in Virginia.

In this drawing a Spanish lady from California walks with her daughter, a Moorish servant, and an Indian servant, ca. 1767. Drawn by Jesuit priest Ignacio Tirsch, at the Mission of California, Baja.

African Americans were also part of the Native American experience. They were enslaved by some tribes, adopted by others, and fought against still more.

From 1831 to 1838, African Americans walked the Trail of Tears into Oklahoma as slaves of the Cherokee and Creek people.

One who might have taken that journey was Pero Brunner who was enslaved by the Creek people. This photograph was taken sometime between 1899 and 1907.

Dick Charlie (left) and John Taylor (right) ca. 1880.

Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library, neg #: X-30642

Some African Americans married into or were adopted by Indian tribes. John Taylor (left) was one such man. Born enslaved in North Carolina, he served in the infantry during the Civil War. Later he was an interpreter for the U.S. Cavalry, and in the late 1870s he married a 14-year old Ute girl named Kitty Cloud.

It is said that John Taylor was fluent in seven Indian languages. In addition to being a farmer, he acted as the Ute Agency interpreter from 1896 to 1935 when he died.

An even greater number of African Americans in the west fought Native Americans. They were the Buffalo soldiers... NEXT