The American West has played a major role in shaping the essential character and national spirit of the United States, for both good and bad. Legends and Narratives of the American West: Part One focuses on select historic topics, individuals, and events that defined the American West experience during the nineteenth century. The first part features lectures and visual presentations that include Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, violence in Kansas between vigilantes and abolitionists, the Indigenous sacred reverence for the bison nation, the Cheyenne Indian tragic nightmare at Sand Creek, and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The course goal is to demonstrate how the broad spectrum of these weekly episodes contributed to the history and mythology of America’s most celebrated region.