Historians believe, notably freelance writer, William DeLong, that the real Lone Ranger was Black. His name was Bass Reeves, who served as a Federal Marshal for 27 years. His assistant in taming the west was Native American (like the Ranger’s Tonto) and the two of them arrested 3,000 lawbreakers in their crime fighting careers. Shad Mayfield, of Clovis, N.M., is pictured above competing in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center on Dec. 7, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
