Let 'Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People's Champion
For the Nelsons and the Helweges true westerners who embody the cowboy spirit and For my pards the dandy Snyders V M N To my parents for all of their love patience and support G C J
LET ER BUCK George Fletcher the People's Champion VAUNDA MICHEAUX NELSON illustrated by GORDON C JAMES Carolrhoda Books Minneapolis
George had to buck up and get tough at an early age He was just about ten years old around the turn of the century when his family packed up and lit out from Kansas on the Oregon Trail They had folks in Pendleton so it seemed as good a settling place as any But there weren't many black people in Eastern Oregon and most whites in Pendleton didn't cotton to them George suffered meanness and hurt because of his skin color Life at home was no bushel of peaches either He had to make his own way
George found a kinship with the children he'd come to know from the Umatilla Indian Reservation where members of the Walla Walla the Cayuse and the Umatilla tribes lived George was so good natured they found him easy to like back He started bunking with the families of his Indian friends George took to their ways like a wet kitten to a warm brick As they played together he learned their languages and how they saw the world
