BLACK INDIANS/ William Loren Katz $11.00 The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages, where black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country’s original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks, movies, or TV shows of the Old West, the children of Native-and African-American marriages shaped the early days of the fur trade and made a daring contribution to fight for American liberty. ve-and African-American marriages shaped the early days of the fur trade and made a daring contribution to fight for American liberty.