In 1860, the first federal census of the Arizona Territory recorded only a small number of free African Americans. By 1890, however, the African American population in northern Arizona had grown significantly, due in part to the presence of U.S. Colored Troops—also known as Buffalo Soldiers—stationed at Fort Verde and Fort Whipple. The completion of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway in 1882 opened Coconino County to ranching, logging, and homesteading, drawing African Americans westward in search of economic opportunity who found work as cowboys, cooks, laborers, millhands.
A major migration followed in the 1920s, as the post-Civil War southern lumber industry declined. African Americans left the South—employed by companies like Louisiana's Cady Lumber Company—in pursuit of better lives in California, Oregon, and Arizona. Lumber towns like Winslow, Flagstaff, and Williams became home to skilled African American workers. Yet, this vital chapter in Arizona’s history remains little known. This lecture will explore that story and the challenges of preserving it.