Part 2: Jim Crow to the Depression | Hidden Stories: Montana’s Black Past

The deployment of the Buffalo Soldiers to Montana and completion of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific rail lines brought Black Americans to Montana in greater numbers. They built community through social and entrepreneurial organizations, including churches, women’s literacy and church clubs, and Black-owned newspapers. Economic opportunities in Montana available to its Black citizens mirrored those available to others and included work in the service and hospitality industry, business development, and real estate ownership.

However, Black Montanans often experienced discrimination in the workplace and exclusion from jobs in Montana’s mining, smelting, and timber industries. National trends, like the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, influenced Montana’s political and cultural landscape. Montana passed an anti-miscegenation law in 1909, and Black Montanans experienced increased violence and discrimination.