Outcasts, The

1 9 6 8 – 1 9 6 9 (USA)
26 x 60 minute episodes

“In the decade following the Civil War, people of all creeds and colours were part of the West. The following is a story about two of those people.”

Thus began the opening narration of The Outcasts, a groundbreaking, single-season series that aired on ABC during the 1968-69 season.

As freed slave and former Union soldier Jemal David, Otis Young became the first African-American lead on a TV Western.

Don Murray was his reluctant partner Earl Corey, a former Confederate soldier from a once-wealthy Virginia family. He returned home from the war to discover that his brother had sold out to the North during the war and to make matters worse, had married Earl’s girlfriend while he was away fighting.

Together, Earl and Jemal navigated the West – and the complicated inequities of their own relationship – as bounty hunters.

With its Spaghetti Western vibe and frank depiction of the unapologetic racism of the era, The Outcasts was a TV series way ahead of its time.

Otis Young went on to become a minister.

Earl Corey
Don Murray
Jemal David
Otis Young