Afropioneerism: Reclaiming Black Western History in Golden Ax

Introduction: Defining Afropioneerism

In the Author’s Note of Golden Ax, Rio Cortez introduces two terms—Afropioneerism and Afrofrontierism—to describe the experience of her enslaved ancestors who, after Reconstruction, migrated to the American West. Unlike the familiar narrative of pioneers as exclusively white settlers, Afropioneerism centers the Black families who crossed the continent, built communities, and transformed the frontier. Cortez writes that her family were “Afropioneers” who “embodied the Afrofrontier,” and she claims this name for them a century later. The theme runs through the entire collection, blending personal genealogy, historical recovery, and imaginative speculation. This analysis traces how Cortez develops Afropioneerism across three key parts of the book, connects it to specific characters and symbols, and addresses the tensions inherent in reclaiming a painful past.

Tracing the Theme Across the Plot

1. The Author’s Note: Claiming the Term

The clearest statement of Afropioneerism appears in the Author’s Note. Cortez explains that her ancestors were enslaved in Louisiana before moving westward, possibly inspired by the California Gold Rush. She names two key figures: Paul C. Howell, who became Utah’s first Black police detective, and his son Abner Howell, an early Black convert to the Mormon church. Abner’s conversion created complex tensions around race and faith that persist in the family today, especially given the LDS church’s pre-1978 ban on Black priesthood. By claiming the term Afropioneer, Cortez does two things: she rescues her ancestors from historical invisibility, and she acknowledges that their story required imagination—since many records were lost or never created. The Author’s Note establishes that the book is “a work of imagined history,” where memory, archive, and creativity combine.

2. Covered Wagon as Spaceship: Science Fiction and History

In Covered Wagon as Spaceship, Cortez explicitly connects Afropioneerism to Afrofuturism. The poem begins with a child standing in Utah’s landscape, feeling alien: “I consider whether it’s aliens / that brought Black folks to the canyons, valley.” The covered wagon—a classic symbol of westward expansion—is reimagined as a spaceship. This metaphor does not mock the pioneer journey; instead, it legitimizes the feeling of displacement that many Black Westerners experience when their presence seems anomalous. The speaker’s history is “untold,” so she turns to science fiction to make sense of her origin. The poem ends with “abduction,” suggesting both the forced migration of slavery and the willful leap into an unknown frontier. Here Afropioneerism becomes a survival strategy—using the imagination to fill gaps left by the historical record.

3. Family Tree at Earth’s Surface: The Limits of Recorded History

In Family Tree at Earth’s Surface, the speaker searches for ancestors using “expert knowledge, archives, attics, oral tradition, intuition, and the self.” She finds a “Nameless mother and her son”—figures lost to documentation. The poem compares the unnamed mother to the moon, a “tide-maker,” and identifies the beginning of blackness with a boy named Jackson, a farmer and coffin builder who left no last name. This moment is crucial for Afropioneerism because it acknowledges that not every ancestor can be named or recovered. The speaker then moves to a different kind of knowing: an arc in which the moon is mothered. She loses the impulse to count and record, finding comfort in emotional connection rather than archival proof. Afropioneerism here becomes less about genealogy and more about feeling the presence of those who came before, even without a paper trail.

Character and Symbol Connections

Characters

Byrdie Lee Howell Langon – Cortez’s great-great-aunt, who self-published Utah and the Early Black Settlers. In the chapter “Far Enough,” a poem by her pastor praises her ability to see hidden beauty in people. Byrdie embodies Afropioneerism as a keeper of community history, a role that required persistence and deep attention.
Paul C. Howell – The first Black police detective in Utah. He appears in “Questions of the Last Relative Slave,” where the speaker asks what he loved after enduring storms. Paul represents the public achievements of Afropioneers, yet the poem shows that his inner life remains partly unknowable.
The poet’s persona – The speaker throughout Golden Ax is a contemporary Afropioneer, searching for her place in Utah’s landscape. She is both descendant and active reclaimer of the term.
Marion – A figure likely connected to family memory; the internal link suggests exploring how Marion contributes to the web of kinship.
Black Annie Hall – A modern persona who transplants urban northeastern culture into the West. Her presence shows Afropioneerism continuing into the present, with humor and style.
Black Frasier Crane – Possibly a counterpart to Annie Hall, reinforcing the idea that Black Westerners have always existed in popular imagination, even if unacknowledged.

Symbols

Salt – The epigraph of the book (from Nat Love) describes the Great Salt Lake at sunset. Salt suggests preservation, bitterness, and the tears of migration—an element that ties the landscape to memory.
Covered wagon as spaceship – As discussed, this symbol fuses pioneer history with Afrofuturism, making the unknown journey both terrifying and wondrous.
Scorpion – A creature of the desert that can sting and survive. It may represent the resilience of Afropioneers in a harsh environment, or the danger of forgetting history.
Robin’s egg – In “Emancipation Queen,” the robin’s egg is a symbol of beauty that conceals its origin. The poem asks whether emancipation means leaving beauty behind, challenging the idea that Afropioneers must shed their past to thrive.

Complexity and Contradiction

Afropioneerism is not a simple celebration. Cortez wrestles with several tensions:

Nationalism vs. critique of expansion – The West was not empty; it was Indigenous land. The book does not ignore this, though the primary focus is on Black presence. The title Golden Ax itself can be read as a tool of both clearing land and violence.
Faith and exclusion – Abner Howell’s conversion to Mormonism created a legacy of complex faith. “Self-Portrait in a Tanning Bed” shows the speaker in a deeply ironic position, the only Black girl in a tanning salon with an African mask on the wall. This poem exposes the alienation that persists even within the Afropioneer identity.
Gender and visibility – The “Nameless mother” in “Family Tree at Earth’s Surface” points to the erasure of Black women’s labor. The questions in “Questions of the Last Relative Slave” are directed at Paul C. Howell, but the answers are not given, implying that some aspects of Afropioneer life remain inaccessible.
Imagination vs. accuracy – Cortez admits the book is “imagined history.” This raises a productive contradiction: How do you honor ancestors when the facts are missing? The answer lies in emotional truth rather than literal truth—a stance that some historians might challenge, but one that the poet argues is necessary for survival.

Study Questions and Answers

How does Cortez define the term “Afropioneer” in the Author’s Note, and why does she claim it for her ancestors?
Cortez defines Afropioneer as a person of African descent who migrated to and built a life on the American frontier, specifically the West. She claims the term because her family’s story was never part of mainstream pioneer narratives; by naming them Afropioneers, she restores their agency and presence in history.
In “Covered Wagon as Spaceship,” what purpose does the science-fiction metaphor serve for understanding Black Western history?
The metaphor allows Cortez to express the feeling of being alien in a place where few Black people are known to have lived. By comparing the covered wagon to a spaceship, she connects the historical migration to Afrofuturism, suggesting that imagination is necessary to fill the gaps left by erased or untold stories.
How does “Family Tree at Earth’s Surface” challenge the idea that genealogy must be based on recorded names?
The poem shows the speaker abandoning the impulse to count and record names after finding comfort in the emotional connection to unnamed ancestors. This implies that Afropioneerism can be sustained through feeling and storytelling, not just archival proof.
What tensions arise from Abner Howell’s conversion to Mormonism in the context of Afropioneerism?
Abner’s conversion created a split in the family—some members accepted the faith, others did not—and it placed him in a church that excluded Black men from the priesthood until 1978. This tension shows that Afropioneerism includes painful compromises and complex relationships with institutions that were not always welcoming.
Why does Cortez include the symbol of the robin’s egg in “Emancipation Queen,” and how does it relate to the theme of beauty?
The robin’s egg symbolizes a beauty that conceals its maker (the red-breasted bird). The poem questions whether emancipation means leaving beauty behind, suggesting that Black women’s participation in beauty pageants can be both a tool of liberation and a performance of expectations. For Afropioneers, this echoes the larger question of whether they must abandon parts of themselves to be seen as legitimate pioneers.