Thread by @AfricanArchives

Harder They Fall cast real life figures.

A Thread!

Jonathan Majors as Nat Love

Majors leads the cast as the heroic Nat Love, who was a real cowboy born in Tennessee in 1854. Known as "Deadwood Dick"

Nate earned that nickname after winning a rodeo in South Dakota.

He moved to the West when he was 16 to herd cattle. He released an autobiography in 1907 called, Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as 'Deadwood Dick,' by Himself.

The book recounts events in his life, including how he became an expert marksman and crossed paths with other famous cowboys like Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid and more.

Edi Gathegi as Bill Pickett

Depicted as a member of the Nat Love gang, Bill Pickett was actually a rodeo performer and actor, and in 1989 was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

He's also credited with inventing the technique of bulldogging which is when ranchers grab cattle by the horns and wrestle them to the ground. His family's ancestry is African American and Cherokee.

Idris Elba as Rufus Buck -

Elba potrays the menacing Rufus Buck who was just as feared in real life as he is in the movie. The real-life Buck led the Rufus Buck gang, which was made up of African American and Native American members.

Rufus Gang are credited with a number of crimes across 1895 and 1896, including multiple murders and rape. They were eventually captured and hanged for their crimes in July 1896 in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

LaKeith Stanfield as Cherokee Bill -

Crawford Goldsby aka Cherokee Bill was known as one of the most vicious outlaws in the West. was an outlaw who operated in Indian territory (Oklahoma) and led a gang of thieves and murderers in the late 1800s.

Crawford lived to be just twenty years old as he was hanged for his many crimes. He earned his nickname through his mother, who was part Native American, and a Cherokee Freedman.

He was responsible for murdering eight men, including his brother-in-law, and with his accomplices went on a crime spree robbing banks, stagecoaches and stores.

RJ Cyler as James Beckwourth

The real Jim Beckwourth was born into slavery in Virginia in 1878 but went on to become an American mountain man, fur trader and explorer, different from the gun-slinging version his character in The movie.

He is Credited with discovering the Beckwourth Pass in the Sierra Nevada between Nevada and California. He married a chief's daughter and eventually earned the title of chief, himself.

He led a varied life and allegedly wrote his autobiography in 1856, The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth: Mountaineer, Scout and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians.

Zazie Beetz as Stagecoach Mary -

In The Harder They Fall, Stagecoach Mary is a singer and performer, but the real-life version of the character had a much different life.
Born into slavery, she was emancipated after the Civil War and worked several jobs.

In 1895, at the age of sixty, she became the first African American woman to work for the U.S. Postal Service, and she got her nickname Stagecoach Mary because of her mode of transportation. She always wore a pistol under her apron.

As a star carrier her job was to protect the mail on her route fending off bandits and to deliver mail, helping to establish the Wild West

Delroy Lindo as Bass Reeves ( The Lone Ranger )

Contrasting all of the outlaws featured in The Harder They Fall, Lindo plays Bass Reeves who was a famed lawman in the 1800s.

Originally born into slavery, Reeves became one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals, in the West.

He worked in law enforcement for over 30 years and reportedly made over 3,000 arrests of felons, killing 14 outlaws in self defense. He even had to arrest his own son Bennie Reeves after he was charged with the murder of his wife.

Danielle Deadwyler as Cuffee

Cuffee is based on Cathay Williams, an African-American soldier who enlisted in the United States Army while dressed and posed as a Male under the pseudonym William Cathay.

She was reportedly the first Black woman to enlist, and the only documented woman, to serve in the United States Army posing as a man. Her true identity was discovered during a medical exam.

She then received an honorable discharge, she briefly lived in Pueblo, and finally settled in Trinidad until she died in 1892.

Regina King as Gertrude "Treacherous Trudy" Smith -

Less is known about King's character Treacherous Trudy, but legend has it she was a very dangerous woman. An integral part of the Rufus Buck gang

she was an infamous pickpocket and worked with another woman named Dolly Mickey to pickpocket. She did six months in jail.

in The Harder They Fall, the real-life woman is described as a gangster, a thief, and a killer, making her way through a male-dominated world.

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