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Date: July 22, 2022 10:32PM
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/us/utah-black-pioneers-monument-reaj/index.htmlNow this guy, Estevenico ("Stevie") had been a slave, but became a true explorer and pioneer. Along with Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and two other men, he was one of the first explorers since the Vikings to set foot in North America:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EstevanicoDorantes took Azemmouri as his slave on Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition of 1527 to colonize Florida and the Gulf Coast. They left Cuba in February 1528, intending to establish two settlements in present-day Mexico at the Isla de las Palmas near today's Tampico. The Narváez fleet was forced by strong winds to sail to Florida. They landed in Boca Ciega Bay in April 1528. After failed efforts to locate villages with gold near present-day Tampa Bay and after enduring numerous attacks by Native Americans, Narváez split his forces, hoping to find a better place for settlement at a large bay to the north. He ordered the ships to sail north along the coast, with Narváez and 300 men traveling overland, planning to rejoin the land force with the ships at the large harbor. There is no large harbor north of their landing site, and the ships and the land expedition did not meet again. After traveling 300 miles north to the St. Marks River, Narváez determined they could reach Panuco by sailing westward along the coast. The estimated 250 survivors slaughtered their horses, melted down metals from bridles and stirrups, and made five boats to try to sail along the coast Gulf of Mexico to reach the main Spanish settlement at Pánuco. The boats wrecked off the coast of Texas, and most of men aboard the boats were lost at sea. About 80 surviving men washed ashore, and most were killed or died in the ensuing six years of captivity by native Indians. Eventually only Azemmouri, Dorantes, Cabeza de Vaca and Castillo remained alive.[11] The four spent years enslaved on the Texas barrier islands.[4]
In 1534 the four survivors escaped into the American interior and became medicine men. As medicine men they were treated with great respect and offered food, shelter, and gifts, and villages held celebrations in their honor. When they decided they wanted to leave, the host village would guide them to the next village.[12] Sometimes as many as 3,000 people would follow them to the next village.[13] The party traversed the continent as far as western Mexico, into the Sonoran Desert to the region of Sonora in New Spain (present-day Mexico). After finding a small Spanish settlement, the four survivors travelled 1,000 miles to the south to Mexico City, arriving in July 1536.