Part 1: Pre-Civil War Era to the End of Reconstruction | Hidden Stories: Montana’s Black Past

Many Black Americans found Montana Territory to be an attractive place for a fresh start following Emancipation and the end of the Civil War. Lack of resources and few transportation options put the American West out of reach for most Black Americans. Service in the military provided Black men the opportunity for upward mobility and to leave the South. Other pathways Black Americans found for getting to Montana included jobs as wagon masters, cowboys, domestic servants, and steamboat crewmen. Montana Territory offered opportunity to its African American residents, but legal discrimination, bigotry, and episodic conflict did occur.