The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality by Anna-Lisa Cox

The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality by Anna-Lisa Cox

                I don’t know if I have ever even stopped to think of the existence of Black pioneers. The image of a pioneer that automatically comes to mind are the images that I’ve been shown: white men and women, with their children in tow making their way across the land like in the old (and epically amazing) game “Oregon Trail.” That’s the history I’ve always been shown in school. It wasn’t until I was much older that I learned of the atrocities committed against Native Americans on that march West. And it isn’t until now that I’m learning about the existence of the courageous Black men and women who settled in the Northwest Territory, cultivated the land and became successful farmers.

                Hundreds of Free Black men and women chose to settle in the Northwest Territory. They owned hundreds of acres of land and for a while, the men even had the right to vote. They started families, braved the winters, started schools and churches all in the 1800s before the Civil War had ever been fought. They were always on guard, aware that some of the people moving in around them were weary of living near Black people. At times it was really rough, with those who were pro-slavery and anti-abolitionists moving in to different territories hoping to turn them into slave states. But those Free Black families like the Lyles, the Griers, the Hawkins, the Elliots and the Clemens fought for themselves and for the right for other Free Black people to settle into the different territories.

                The Bone and Sinew of the Land tells the stories of some of the families that lived in the Northwest Territory in the 1800s. Cox defines what a successful landowning Black family was very early on in the book and then details the different situations that occurred. Now the narrative in the beginning of the book is like telling a story and that caught me off guard at first. Cox uses language like “may have,” “probably felt,” “could have,” while conveying the emotions of the settlers. I was expecting a straight forward, informational text, so I had to adjust to these parts of the narrative that intertwined with the more factual information. This book has a plethora of information regarding the lives of successful Black landowners. Cox details many of the different experiences and gives historical context throughout. Cox doesn’t shy away from the impact on Native Americans and acknowledges that they were the original settlers of the land and how they were impacted by the movements of everyone west. But the focus is on the Black pioneers and what they endured.

                Overall this is a book that I highly recommend. I’m frustrated after reading it because it sheds a light on a part of history that should be more widely discussed but it interrupts the prevalent narrative that Black people are lazy and don’t want to work hard to make a living. These were prime examples of Free Black men and women, some born free, others escaped or bought their freedom, and they were working extremely hard to make a life for themselves. But racism, jealousy and greed constantly threatened their lives and livelihoods. This book details so many instances of these things happening. What we have historically is an erasure of that history. This book will help bring context and honesty to a hidden history.