In the lore of the American West, where heroes consist of both lawmen and outlaws, there is the story of a man as tough as Billy the Kid, as good with a gun as Wild Bill Hickok, and as quick as a horse the horse Pony Express. At 6 feet 2 inches, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves was as imposing as his mustache. So strong that it was said that if he spit on a brick it would break.
“He was like the Michael Jordan of Border Patrol agents,” said biographer Art Burton. “He could whip any two men with his bare hands.”
Bass Reeves (1838-1910) was the first black U.S. deputy marshal west of the Mississippi and is now the subject of a new television series from Paramount+. CBS News
Reeves roamed the heart of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories with near impunity – a nightmare for any outlaw, said Burton, an expert in African American studies. “When I was doing the research, I kept shaking my head and saying people wouldn’t believe it,” he said.
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You might think that such a Wild West story would almost tell itself. But as Burton began researching a book about Reeves, he kept running into dead ends, such as when he tried to trace the Bass Reeves family tree. “A lady answered the phone and said she had never heard of him,” Burton said. “I said, ‘Well, he’s an African-American who was a deputy U.S. marshal.’ And she was very kind about it; she says, ‘Sir, I’m sorry, we didn’t capture black history here.'”
Before he became a lawyer, Reeves was a fugitive, a runaway slave from Texas. The former slave eventually made a name for himself by arresting white people, no less. And yet his extraordinary story was largely as forgotten as a ghost town — and Oklahomans say his time has come. One man said: “He is the stuff of legend. I can’t imagine him being white and having the kind of career he’s had and it’s not already been in a big movie, maybe even multiple times.”
For actor David Oyelowo, Bass Reeves’ story has the same ingredients as the Lone Ranger – only better. “It’s one thing to be a white guy in a mask and ride a damn wonderful horse,” he said. “It’s another thing to do that with limited resources. You’re a black man who comes from slavery and you’ve been doing this for over 30 years and no one pays you any attention? It almost feels intentional. “We don’t know anything more about him.”
Oyelowo spoke to “Sunday Morning” last spring about trying to right the wrongs of history by starring in and executive producing an eight-part series for Paramount+ (CBS sister network) called “Lawmen: Bass Reeves.”
David Oyelowo in the new series Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Paramount+
It’s a huge production shot primarily on a Texas ranch with veteran actors like Donald Sutherland and Dennis Quaid.
“It’s great to do a Western, man,” Quaid said. “It’s like being 12 years old again. It really is.”
Quaid was equally impressed by Reeves’ actual loyalty to the law: “The thing was, Bass Reeves was really the guy. He really was.”
Oyelowo said he studied recordings of slave narratives found at the Library of Congress to get his speech patterns just right. He also learned to jump rope and ride a horse. “I’m always looking for ways to scare myself and this really did it!” he laughed.
He had some insight into the man Reeves must have been. But the role was also a reminder that light always illuminates greatness, no matter how long it lasts. “A principle by which I live my life is that excellence is the best weapon against prejudice,” Oyelowo said. “He was excellent. It was difficult to just say, ‘Oh, this is an unworthy black man who should be subjugated.’ He couldn’t be dismissed like that. And that’s also why it’s wrong not to celebrate it.”
Actor and executive producer David Oyelowo. CBS News
Bass Reeves lived to the age of 71 and spent his final years in the border town of Muskogee, where Reeves is still remembered at the Three Rivers Museum and celebrated each year at the Bass Reeves Western History Conference.
No one knows where Reeves is buried – and perhaps that just adds to the mystique.
For Art Burton, that doesn’t matter; The child in him wants to thank Reeves for tipping his hat to him — and other black Americans — to a legend all his own.
“I always used to wonder where we were [in stories of the Old West]?” said Burton. “So it’s like God answered my prayers by giving me someone before I died who said, ‘Well, we were part of the scene too.'”
To watch a trailer for Lawmen: Bass Reeves, click on the video player below.
Law Enforcement: Bass Reeves | Official Trailer | Paramount+ from Paramount Plus on YouTube
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The story was produced by David Rothman. Editor: Ed Givnish.
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