Talk:Tom Bass (horse trainer)

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A fact from Tom Bass (horse trainer) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 April 2016 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Tom Bass was born a slave but trained horses for Theodore Roosevelt, Will Rogers, and Buffalo Bill Cody?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2016/April. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Tom Bass (horse trainer).

Wikipedia

slave

The article mentions that Bass was a born into slavery, but also mentions that he moved to Mexico, and not that he was freed. Maybe good to clarify if and when he was freed? effeietsanders 18:37, 28 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Effeietsanders I'm guessing he was freed with most other American slaves when Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation. Bass would have only been three or four years old at the time, since the law was passed in 1863 (it was during the American Civil War). He basically grew up free, although technically he was a slave for the first few years of his life. None of the sources say so, but that's the only logical explanation given the passing of the proclamation and the fact that slavery was illegal in America after 1865. I didn't put anything about him being freed in though, because I figured somebody would call it synthesis. White Arabian Filly ^Neigh 20:20, 28 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I would agree. He was four years old in 1863, though Missouri was a border state, thus technically slavery there would not have been fully abolished until the 13th Amendment in 1865, even so, Bass would have been 5 in 1865, so either way, probably irrelevant. Some of the sources in the article indicate he moved to Mexico, Missouri around 1870, and that would have been when he was only 11. I found a few additional sources that may be of use for future article expansion, listed below. Montanabw ^(talk) 01:26, 29 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

http://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/b/bass/ (also has additional sources)
http://audrain.org/tom_bass-bit.aspx (one of many more pages at that web site, it is quite extensive and should easily meet WP:RS)
http://noblebeasts.blogspot.com/2012/02/great-american-horsemantom-bass-part.html (this is a reprint from somewhere else not properly sourced, so if we can find the original that would be an RS, this one tricky as is, but clearly from something legit).
http://www.noblebeasts.blogspot.com/2012/02/great-american-horsemantom-bass.html (first part of above) this link has cite to source. Also notes that he was raised by his grandparents and yes, free at age 6, though the family initially remained on the plantation. Montanabw ^(talk) 01:51, 29 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks White Arabian Filly & Montanabw So if I understand correctly, he was 'at least free from the age of 5, when slavery was abolished in the United States' but it could be that he was freed before that moment? I guess it would be good to include something along those lines, for those readers that didn't memorise the date of the liberation :) effeietsanders 12:18, 29 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think that with Missouri as a border state, he technically was free in 1865 (didn't the Emancipation Proclamation only cover the Confederate States?) Montanabw ^(talk) 20:33, 1 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]