Editor's note: Check back on August 14 for a recitation of this poem by Rodney Lee.
Young. J.D. wrestled the savage winter night,
stood victorious come the dawn:
sunlight beaming behind him
a celestial crown;
the whiteness of the impassable Sierras
flung over his shoulder, a cape
—king of the horizon, scout
finding paths ahead of the Pathfinder.
Confident, broad-shouldered,
six-foot, statuesque, hair dark,
dusty, coarse. A Black man,
coffee—cocoa colored;
young, masculine, powerful, silent,
skilled.
Jacob Dodson—scout,
explorer, carved a path
for the Fremont Party
across Utah, Nevada, California,
all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Criss-cross explored this Silver State,
even here, the Valley of Meadows.
His footsteps,
history marks the first Black footsteps
in the territory of Nevada. Pioneer,
forefather; 19 years old,
born free to a free Black woman,
a free Black man in Washington, D.C.,
journeyed along these trails during
the early years of Nevada’s history;
silent
through the high mountain trails,
silent through history:
his efforts during the Mexican-American War,
where J.D., Don Jesus Pico, & John C. Fremont
rode round trip Los Angeles to Monterey
8 days, 840 miles; turned the tide,
what they call, The Conquest of California,
another unheralded note
in the song of history.
A great man forgotten, now found
along these Nevada trails.
J.D.
Poet Rodney J. Lee provided the poem “Jacob Dodson: Beyond the Negro Who Rode with Fremont." “I've lived here for over 40 years, a local transplant,” he says. “I was looking for folks who looked like me in Nevada's history.” Dodson, who rode on three expeditions with John C. Fremont, was a resilient and talented explorer. “I was captivated by Dodson's tale,” Lee says. “I kind of assumed his persona in much of my book Along These Trails. That Black scout spirit. Me, my bicycle, J.D., and the vast Nevada wilderness. More than a poem, it’s a vibe.” The latest of Lee’s four books of poetry is Soul Brothers, which mixes family history with various mythologies.
