Black Cowboys: Ned Logan and the Portrayal of Blackness in Unforgiven

The Oscars, film critics, and viewers alike have witnessed and praised the plot and performance of Unforgiven for many reasons. Will Munny still stands as the first image that comes to mind when thinking about Unforgiven - either his concerned face, him riding his horse, falling into mud, or infamously killing the town sheriff, Little Bill. Will Munny stands as the face of Unforgiven, similar to how Clint Eastwood stands as the mind behind the film. However, after further watching, re-watching, and engaging in a close viewing of the film, especially as a

Black viewer, Ned Logan becomes the most important and different character in the film to me.

Analysis into the film (while having my personal Black experience as context) reveals both a dichotomy and a purpose that Ned, and only Ned, has as the only Black figure in the film. I believe these distinct characterizations of Ned relate to his Blackness and the lack of diversity on and off screen. With the context of film history, Black cowboys in the nineteenth century, and through my eyes as a Black film viewer, I center Ned and try to understand how his character speaks to issues in film-making as it pertains to Black stories.

Ned’s dynamic in this film interests me because he becomes both hyper-visible and invisible as a character. Almost everything he does and says centers Will, making him a classic sidekick. At the same time, Ned’s guidance to Will, and even his death, single-handedly shape

Will’s decisions and character development in the movie. No other character in the film has this dynamic, and non-coincidentally, Ned stands as the only Black character in the film. The first scene we see Ned in also displays the first time we see him as a sidekick. Shortly after Will rides into Ned’s house, Ned says “I’ll be...it’s Will” (Eastwood, 1992). These first few words that come out of Ned’s mouth center Will, making this “sidekick” attribute an attribute that viewers

can expect from him as a character. This signals to the average viewer that they do not need to pay much attention to Ned because this solidifies his position as a supporting character.

Soon after this introduction of Ned in the film, we see that he also functions as a source of guidance for Will, now making him a character that we should pay attention to and a character that matters. We see Ned as a “voice of reason” for Will during their first night out as bounty hunters, sitting by the campfire. Will has doubt about their adventure and tries to convince himself that he isn’t “the way he was” before - a savage killer. As Will vents about his past traumas seemingly overloaded with worry, Ned’s interjects with reassuring words. He reiterates what Will needs to hear by saying “You ain’t like that no more” (Eastwood, 1992). The entire conversation in this scene deals with Will - his past, present, and what he wants his future to look like, and Ned’s voice works to reaffirm what Will needs to hear. It almost seems as if Ned reduces to only a literal voice. The way we hear Ned’s reassurance in the background while simultaneously seeing Will as the focal point visually represents this. However, although reduced, Ned simultaneously becomes more visible as a character in this scene. Ned essentially becomes relevant in this scene because he helps and reassures Will, not really because of anything he has said or done himself. This may seem inconsequential, but this becomes important as we realize that Ned functions as the only supporting character with this dynamic.

The Schofield Kid and Little Bill both play significant supporting role as well, but their significance does not lie in their guidance to Will. They both exist as supporting characters with their own stories and their own journeys - aspects that Ned does not have. We should not naïvely separate this from the fact that the Schofield Kid and Little Bill are white and Ned is Black, because this racial difference speaks to a larger issue regarding the diversity of film.

This characterization of Ned Logan does not stand alone as a single story. The use of a

Black character for a source of guidance in film has occurred for decades in film, and often becomes particularly problematic because these Black characters usually only serve to guide their White counterparts (When watching Morgan Freeman take on the role of Ned Logan, I could not help but reminisce on the movies Evan Almighty and Bruce Almighty where Freeman plays a role as grand as God and still only serves as guidance for the main white characters).

Research on the use of magical Black characters in film asserts that “Because Hollywood screenwriters often remain oblivious about Black people, they incorporate images in films that comfort and appeal to White viewers” (Glenn et. al, 2009). We do not know if the script of

Unforgiven writer David Webb People’s wrote the character of Ned originally as a Black man, but Eastwood did make a conscious choice of casting Morgan Freeman as Ned. This (possibly) explains the choice to cast Ned Logan as a Black man, and poses the argument that diversity in film can happen in an incorrect way. Black studies have also classified the

three main purposes for the magical Negro in relation to the lead White character

in the film: (a) to assist the character, (b) to help him or her discover and utilize

his or her spirituality, and (c) to offer a type of "folk wisdom" used to resolve the

character's dilemma. The White characters' dilemma, not the Black characters'

gifts or spirituality, serve as the primary focus (Glenn et. al, 2009).

Although Ned does not function as an explicitly “magical” character, this commentary applies to the relationship between Ned and Will. Ned assists Will through his emotional dilemma in a way that centers Will’s dilemma rather than Ned’s words. Ned also automatically becomes seen as an assist of some sort when first meeting the Schofield kid. Even after the Schofield kid shoots at

Ned, Ned offers, “Thought maybe I'd check it for you. Make sure nothing's bent” (Eastwood,

1992). The Schofield kid then denies his help, and basically continues the conversation with Will only and excludes Ned, which exemplifies Ned’s invisibility as a character. The Schofield kid first refuses Will’s request to split the bounty three ways, and retracts his statement after Will makes it clear that he refuses to continue without Ned, stating “He’s my partner. If he don’t go, I don’t go” (Eastwood, 1992) Only through validation from Will makes Ned able to go on this hunt and gain money from it, solidifying that his significance as a character comes from Will’s character.

Speaking of Will’s character, the major shift in Will’s character development also involves Ned – specifically the scene of Ned’s death. Ned’s death becomes an extremely significant scene because here we see Ned’s Blackness become the most prevalent that we have seen it throughout the film, and it changes the entire course of the rest of the film. Little Bill first tortures Ned before killing him, which becomes extremely difficult to watch as Little Bill whips

Ned’s bare back in front of the entire sheriff’s office. This scene would look entirely different if

Ned did not stand alone as the only Black character in the film, or if he wasn’t the only character who received a whipping as a punishment. These two things only Ned experiences, making it impossible for viewers of any kind to separate his race from his character - another instance in which Ned and his Blackness become hyper-visible. Soon after, Ned dies at the hands of Little

Bill, and Will responds with action. Will reverts back to his old ways that he constantly denied throughout the film when he learns of Ned’s death. Will first drinks his bottle of Whiskey, something he previously denounced and associated with his bad past. We see Will’s character and character development centered even in the event of Ned’s death, which heavily relates to his race. Will goes on to kill Little Bill and his men, something that he promised himself he would not do. This makes for an iconic interaction between Will and Little Bill, as Will stands

over Little Bill and kills him as he says his last words: “I’ll see you in hell, Munny” (Eastwood,

1992). This becomes a scene to remember in Unforgiven, and the scene of Ned’s torturous death becomes overlooked and forgotten. Even though Ned’s death exemplifies the hyper-visibility of his Blackness largely, he becomes invisible again once Will becomes the center. No other supporting character has a dichotomy like this, making Ned an important figure in the film that sheds light on the problematic history of Blackness in motion pictures.

Closely analyzing Unforgiven with a historical lens becomes necessary when discussing topics related to race. Unforgiven exists not just as a legendary film, but specifically as a legendary Western film. Western films have a reputation classified by their setting and time frame, because they center stories of 19th century American West. Inevitably, commitment to historical accuracy when creating Westerners becomes a requirement because historical accuracy acts as such a key characteristic of the entire genre. The film takes place in 1880 Wyoming, so viewers can safely consider Ned Logan as a “freeman”. The setting takes place shortly after the

Reconstruction Era, in which African Americans received their first wave of civil rights. In order to historically situate myself when attempting to analyze the character of Ned Logan, I noted the following from research on this time in American history:

The Civil War ended the slave system, and the South, initially devastated by the

war, re-emerged as Southern Conservatives took back their privileges through

political re-alliance and violence...the racial climate in the South was racist and

violent; and [there was a] lack of jobs because the South had been completely

devastated by the War (Verdugo, 2014).

This explains why we see Ned owning his own house, gun, and horse. This shows us that the movie takes place in a time when African Americans became allowed to have these types of

items. However, this still took place in a time where racism and white supremacy existed as the norm, and just because civil rights for African Americans had progressed did not mean that

African Americans did not still experience disenfranchisement in so many ways that did not allow them true freedom. The Black Codes that took place in the same time that Unforgiven would take place in exemplify this type of racist disenfranchisement. Historians note that the

Black Codes “severely limited the rights of former slaves to vote, to move freely, to be gainfully employed, and to acquire property. They also specified rules for vagrancy and apprenticeship with harsh rules and punishments for violations” (Fleischmann et. al, 2014). Although minimizing and inaccurate to characterize Black folk in this time as powerless or weak people, they did experience the denial of the right to hold social power on the interpersonal level because of the social context around them. Thus, Eastwood depicting Ned as a socially powerful figure that has dominance over Will Munny and the Schofield Kid might have seemed historically inaccurate, which can explain why he chose not to depict Ned this way. We can even view Ned’s character dynamic as showing the neglect and silencing that Black minds and voices experienced at the time that Unforgiven took place in.

In conjunction with this, the general public lacks knowledge when it comes to the idea of a Black cowboy, even though Black cowboys did exist in the 19th century. In my personal experience, I never saw Black cowboys depicted in films, or even spoken about when learning

American West history throughout grade school. The erasure of these stories could also contribute to the fact that Ned Logan acts as a smaller and less powerful figure. Hollywood screenwriters and producers, like Eastwood, likely did not have the background knowledge on the African-American Western experience to create a multidimensional character and still uphold

historical accuracy. In Tricia Wagner’s book titled Black Cowboys of the Old West: True,

Sensational, and Little-Known Stories, she notes the following:

In reality, the cowboys of the American West were also of Hispanic, African-

American, and Native American descent. Until recently their stories have been

largely untold. As one descendant of a black cowboy explained, “We didn’t write

the books. We didn’t produce the movies. So we were politely deleted.” There is a

conspicuous absence of the black cowboy recorded in the history of the American

cattle-ranching industry (Wagner, 2011).

Wagner observed this in 2011, and I, as a first-time viewer of Unforgiven in 2019, had never heard of or seen Black cowboys in any setting until I saw the film. Given this, we can infer that the early 1990 production team of Unforgiven did not have the capacity or knowledge to portray

Ned Logan as a character much different than what he ended up as, which speaks to a larger issue of the erasure and misconstruction of Black experiences in American history.

Film viewers and critics alike view Unforgiven as more than just a movie, and a film works as much more than just something one watches. Watching films acts as an activity that society collectively engages in that teaches us about ourselves, our past, and even projects our future to us. The decisions made in films are far from coincidental, and they most definitely are not mistakes. The film industry intentionally casts and portrays certain characters in a certain way, and the intentional choice to cast Ned Logan as a Black character demonstrates the way filmmakers allow their audiences to view Black characters. Film scholars claim that “Although audience members watch movies for entertainment, the images and relationships between characters impact the manner in which they perceive themselves and others” (Glenn et. al, 2009).

This holds true in Unforgiven, as Ned’s blackness only becomes relevant in relation to the white

characters around him, which, although maybe written with good intention, pushes a narrative that shrinks the experiences, stories, and voices of Black people in real life as well as film.

Works Cited:

Eastwood, C. (Producer & Director). (1992). Unforgiven [Motion picture]. United States: Malpaso Productions.

Fleischman, R., Tyson, T., & Oldroyd, D. (2014). The U.S. Freedmens Bureau In Post-Civil War Reconstruction. Accounting Historians Journal, 41(2), 75–109. doi: 10.2308/0148-4184.41.2.75

Glenn, C., & Cunningham, L. (2009). The Power of Black Magic: The Magical Negro and White Salvation in Film. Journal of Black Studies, 40(2), 135-152. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/stable/40282626

Verdugo, R. R. (2014). The making of the african american population: The economic status of the ex-slave and freedmen population in post-civil war america, 1860-1920. Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World, 5(1), 17-36. Retrieved from https://colorado.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.colorado.idm.oclc.or g/docview/1636192057?accountid=14503

Wagner, T. M. (2011). Black cowboys of the Old West: True, Sensational, and Little-known Stories From History. Guilford, CT: TwoDot.