"Ranging from late nineteenth-century writers such as Charles Chesnutt to contemporary authors such as Walter Mosley, the works in The African American West demonstrate how the West, as seen through the eyes of African Americans, has evolved over the last century. Glasrud, a historian, and Champion, a literary scholar, combine their varying areas of expertise in The African American West, and their introductions to each part of the book provide both literary and historical insight into the African American experience in the West."--BOOK JACKET.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [449]-460).

Introduction: African Americans in the West, A Short Story Tradition / Bruce A. Glasrud and Laurie Champion The Ingrate / Paul Laurence Dunbar A Brief Spell by the River / Colleen McElroy An Adventure in the Big Horn Mountain; Or, the Trials and Tribulations of a Recruit / Eugene P. Frierson The Averted Strike / Charles W. Chesnutt As the Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother's Children / Pauline E. Hopkins Jesus Christ in Texas / W. E. B. DuBois Jim Crow in Texas / William Pickens The Little Grey House / Anita Scott Coleman Children of Chance / Julian Elihu Bagley Let the Church Roll On / Nick Aaron Ford Why I Returned / Arna Bontemps No Fools, No Fun / March Lacy The Gun / Langston Hughes Grazing in Good Pastures / Margaret Williams Mister Toussan / Ralph Ellison Health Card / Frank Yerby Stop, Thief! / John Wesley Groves IV Lunching at the Ritzmore / Chester Himes God Bless America / John O. Killens Keys to the City / Malvin Wald Son in the Afternoon / John A. Williams Direct Action / Mike Thelwell The Coming of the Hoodlum / Johnie Scott

Ticket to Freedom / John R. Posey Judah's a Two-Way Street Running Out / Jack Burris Water Seeks Its Own Level / Maxine Clair The Flashlight / Eldridge Cleaver Support Your Local Police / Ed Bullins Ridin' the Moon in Texas / Ntozake Shange Young Reverend Zelma Lee Moses / Joyce Carol Thomas Tell Me Moore / Aya de Leon Quilting on the Rebound / Terry McMillan Damon and Vandalia / Rita Dove Tenderhead / Harryette Mullen The Friday Night Shift at the Taco House Blues / Wanda Coleman Emerald City: Third & Pike / Charlotte Watson Sherman Elbow Room / James Alan McPherson Long Distances / Jewell Parker Rhodes Now Is the Time / Cecil M. Brown Cry About a Nickel / Percival Everett Surfiction / John Edgar Wideman The Trip Back From Whidbey / William Henry Lewis Wonderful Teen / Carolyn Ferrell The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas / Reginald McKnight Equal Opportunity / Walter Mosley Amen / Sunny Nash.