The article noted that Reeves “became the first black deputy U.S.
In 1865, slavery was abolished, and Reeves went on to return to Arkansas to marry and have children. Bass Reeves subsequently escaped to territory in Oklahoma then governed by five tribes (“Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw.”) Laws of the day meant that Reeves could not be pursued as an escaped slave in that territory.
Reeves (who owned the household in which Bass Reeves was born) as he fought for the Confederacy. reported that Reeves was ordered to accompany the son of William S. It was in Texas, during the Civil War, that William made Bass accompany his son, George Reeves, to fight for the Confederacy. Reeves, who relocated to Paris, Texas, in 1846. In 1838-nearly a century before the Lone Ranger was introduced to the public-Bass Reeves was born a slave in the Arkansas household of William S. Reeves was a real-life African-American cowboy who one historian has proposed may have inspired the Lone Ranger. In fact, it was one of many feats of Bass Reeves, a legendary lawman of the Wild West-a man whose true adventures rivaled those of the outlaw-wrangling masked character.
Though the quick-draw tale may sound like an adventure of the Lone Ranger, this was no fictional event. As the desperado reached for his weapon as a last ditch effort, the lawman shot him down before his gun could leave his side. Springing from the bushes, the cowboy confronted his frightened mark with a warrant. After four days, the hunch paid off, when the bandit unwittingly walked towards the man who haunted the outlaws of the Old West. On a riverbank in Texas, a master of disguise waited patiently with his accomplice, hoping that his target, an infamous horse thief, would show himself on the trail. delved into rumors about Bass Reeves inspiring the character in February 2018, with a page: “Was the Real Lone Ranger a Black Man?” That began with a brief anecdote from Reeves’ Wild West days before explaining his background: The person then responds that it was the Lone Ranger, who is then heard yelling “Hi-Yo Silver, away!” as he and Tonto ride away on their horses. At the end of most episodes, after the Lone Ranger and Tonto leave, someone asks the sheriff or other person of authority who the masked man was. A silver mine supplies The Lone Ranger with the name of his horse as well as the funds required to finance his wandering life-style and the raw material for his signature bullets. The “lone” survivor thereafter disguises himself with a black mask and travels with Tonto throughout Texas and the American West to assist those challenged by the lawless elements. The fictional story line maintains that a patrol of six Texas Rangers is massacred, with only one member surviving. The series’ stated premise included an explanation for his masked appearance:
But the television show The Lone Ranger (which aired from 1949 to 1957) could not depict its hero as a black man, so white star Clayton Moore was given a black mask instead. Advertisements In January 2019, a meme that appeared to be a screenshot of an older post asserting that the real Lone Ranger was a black man named Bass Reeves spread on social media:Ībove what appeared to be an archival photograph of a black man and the television character the Lone Ranger, a screencaptured Facebook post read:ĭid you know the real LONE RANGER was a BLACK MAN name BASS REEVES and yes he did live among the INDIANS ,The Lone Ranger “could not be cast in that era as a black man, so he was made into a white man with a black mask, Now you know.Īccording to the apparent original post, the television character was inspired by Bass Reeves.