Children of the Dust

I have given this movie a six because of the power of the story. I would have given it a higher mark but for the historical inaccuracies of the story. Its strong point was the fact that it showed black people in the west where they surely were, but in this movie present the first of the inacfcuracies. It would not have been abnormal at all for black people to have been in Oklahoma territory in the latter part of the 19th century. They had been there since the trail of tears. Some of the transplanted Natives were slave holders and simply brought their slaves with them. Second, a black Marshall in that territory would not have been strange at all. Gypsy Smith could have easily been modeled after Bass Reeves who was one of several Black US Marshalls who patrolled Okla territory. While there has always been problems between black and white Americans, it did not really occur in Oklahoma until it became a state. Thirdly, I can't believe that the light bulb which was only invented in 1879 would have been used in a barn in Oklahoma. Great idea for a movie, but could have been more accurate.