Notes from Town Square: Black history in Wyoming

Across North America, February is recognized as Black History Month. Although it may not be evident today, African Americans played an important role in the settling of the west.

In Wyoming, the Equality State, many former slaves found freedoms that were not granted to them in other parts of the country even after the Declaration of Independence had been signed and the Civil War was over.

Many African American men came west with the expansion of the Transcontinental Rail Road. Most of the black laborers who worked on the rail roads were employed in “rear end” jobs, according to an artic...