6000 Miles on Horseback

Miles Dean, a 52-year-old fifth-grade social studies teacher at Chancellor Avenue School in Newark, New Jersey, climbed on a horse in New York, New York and rode all the way to Los Angeles, California to show young Black students how to set a goal and how to reach that goal.

The 6000-mile ride through 13 states took more than six months to complete. Mr. Dean says the adventure was also intended to heighten awareness of Black cowboys and other Blacks who helped forge American history.

Mr. Dean left the African Burial Ground in New York City in September 2007 and had hoped to finish his coast-to-coast trip in February in honor of Black History month, but the ride took longer than expected. He arrived in Los Angeles in April 2008 at the California African American Museum. The long trek also took a toll, with Dean taking a four-day break at a Texas ranch to rest his aching body and weary horses.

Dean explaining the mission of his journey said, “The textbooks in our public school system do not do enough to give African-American children a knowledge of self that will allow them to build their self-esteem.” His school and students kept track of his travels posted on the Web site www.blackheritageriders.org. He stopped at schools to talk about the role the Black cowboy played in American history. “My journey was to draw attention to our ancestors in the 1500s and the 1800s when the horse was the only mode of transportation,” said Dean.

Dean encountered some tough going along the way, especially through mountain trails in West Virginia where one of his horses developed an abscess on his foot that required medical attention. He also said he dreaded the long, monotonous ride through the prairies of Texas. The more than 800 miles in that one state took 40 days.

Taking two horses for the excursion, the 9-year-old Arabian stallion, Sankofa, and a 12-year-old palomino named Blaze, Dean was accompanied by a driver, a horse trailer with living quarters. Lynndell V. Johnson, a math and science teacher at Yosemite High School in Merced, California, served as road photographer. Dean also spoke to her class during his trip.

Dean said that at times it became difficult not only to step into the saddle but difficult and hurtful to ride in the saddle. He said his kidney and back were hurting and his horses were hurting. But that he was determined to reach the goal.