Bass Reeves and The Lone Ranger: Debunking the Myth

For almost a decade there circulates a myth that falsely suggested an African-American U.S. Deputy Marshal named Bass Reeves was the inspiration for the fictional character of The Lone Ranger. Triggered by recent folklore and influenced by racial bias, the myth spread across the internet like wildfire. While the real life of Bass Reeves deserves to be better-known, it is unfortunate that this fanciful "Lone Ranger" theory is what has brought him additional attention. A book published a decade ago caused unnecessary confusion by falsely suggesting Reeves was the inspiration of the fictional Lone Ranger. (i.e. Reeves rode a white horse as one flimsy connection.) This book documents the origin of The Lone Ranger through historical archives from across the country, with scanned reprints of the most important of documents, proving that three individuals, living in two different states, were responsible for the formation of The Lone Ranger, and proof that the Masked Man was intentionally patterned off of Robin Hood and Tom Mix, debunking the myth that one person deliberately created a children's program in the local Detroit area in 1933 on a historical figure that had never been referenced in books or magazines until the late 1950s. For people who insist Bass Reeves was the inspiration, and have no archival documents to back up their facts, this book provides a superb opportunity to understand why historians across the country have been debating for so long -- Bass Reeves was never the inspiration for The Lone Ranger.

• Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves (Race and Ethnicity in the American West)
• Frontier Justice: Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal
• The Legend of Bass Reeves
• Bass Reeves Frontier Marshal Volume 1
• Bad News for Outlaws: Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves
• Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal (Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux)
• Behind the Mask: The Making of Republic's Lone Ranger Serials