When we look at American history, even Black history, our past doesn't tell us much about the Black people who played important roles in the development of the American West. It seems that not all major achievements made by black men and women in the West are significant in history. We're here to tell you they were. From the nation's birth until the 1840s, the fur trade was one of the vanguards of American industry. When we look at business in America, we might compare them to Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegies and John D. Rockefellers. At this time, women wore beaver coats, hats and necklaces. Each man wore a hat also made of beaver. The American fur trade played a major role in the development of the United States and Canada for more than 300 years. When we research and look at history, history tells us that some of the most famous fur companies were John Jacobs Astor's American Fur Company, the Hudson's Bay Company which is the oldest company of North America and Manuel Lisa's Missouri Fur Company. Like all aspects of American history, the fur trade is a multi-layered story of different cultures. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Native Americans had been in the business since the 1500s. The American West was great because of the fur trade and the role African Americans played in the West. Whenever you research the history of the fur trade in the American West, you will repeatedly come across references to black mountain men, traders, and even black travelers participating in the fur trade in the United States. Black people held positions in the fur trade ranging from slaves to free trappers and from camp guard to independent contractor. Slavery was still legal in the United States during the fur trade era, and many traders and fur business executives used slaves to help them create their fur trading empires. William Clark's slave York, who apparently never had another name, accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition across the continent and back. Although the men of the expedition were said to have worked well, one of the two leaders of the expedition also said that the only two who could be counted on to do what was asked of them were York and the Earth Dog -New, Scammon. Fur trapper Davy Jackson's slave, known only as Jim, accompanied an expedition to California through Santa Rita del Cobre in Mexico and down the desolate Gila Trail. Trading posts often had black employees in a variety of positions, including horse wrestler, cook, trader, laborer, interpreter, hunter, and trapper. Jim Hawkins was a black man working at the Fort Union trading post on the upper Missouri River. Hawkins was a cook at Fort Union and later held the same position at Fort Laramie, in what is now Wyoming. Hawkins fled with a company boat while at Fort Union and went to work for Pierre Sarpy. He was obviously a slave and sent part of his pay to his master in St. Louis and kept the rest. Fort Union was also home to Jasper, a black man whose work at the fur trading post was unrecorded. There were also several Black Frontiersman. Jacob Dodson and Sanders Jackson were both.