numerous types of white men and women in Liberty Valance—foreigners, Easterners,
cowboys— but there is only one black, Pompey. Within this film, Pompey thus becomes a
“signing Africanist presence,” through which John Ford critiques American hypocrisy, by
showing the alienation of the black person or person of color.
In his review of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Roger Ebert says the following:
“The way Ford employs the African-American Pompey is observant. The tall, confident Woody
Strode appeared in five Ford pictures, all the way from Stagecoach, to Ford’s final film, 7
Women (1966). It is made clear in Liberty Valance that segregation was the practice in the
territory. When a meeting is held to vote on statehood, Pompey sits outside on the porch.
When he walks into a bar to fetch Tom, the bartender won’t serve him, and Tom slams hard on
the bar: 'Give him a drink.’ But Pompey won’t drink. He is Tom’s farmhand and seems to be his
only confidant, a protective presence; he always has Tom’s back. Ford isn’t making an
anachronistic statement on racism, but he’s being sure we notice it” (3). Ford clearly shows us
that Pompey is little more than a slave whose loyalty to Tom Doniphon is without question. As
a matter of fact, it is he who is the sole mourner when Ransom Stoddard and Hallie Stoddard
(played by Vera Miles) return to Shinbone to pay their respect to the late Doniphon. Indeed,
John Ford seems to be saying, Pompey’s status within the town is little more than that of a
semi-citizen. There is a poignant sadness and a harsh realism to the scenes where Pompey’s
ironic status is shown, such as when white man after white man enters the town saloon, where
every white man is able to vote. Yet, Pompey is seated outside, rifle at his side, protecting the
white man’s right to vote, while he has no such right. The other scene which Ford uses to
hammer home the status of Pompey as outsider or semi-citizen is one which occurs within a
classroom, conducted by Ranse Stoddard. The school is for immigrants, such as the Ericsons
and Mexicans, and of course, the sole black, Pompey. In his essay, “John Ford’s Wilderness:
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," David Coursen says the following which is pertinent
here: “The extent of Ford’s willingness to question, if not actually discard, even the most
sacred American myths and ideals comes into vivid focus in a relatively straightforward, almost
didactic scene midway through the film. This sequence takes place in the new school in the
frontier community of Shinbone, where teacher Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) presides
over a virtual western miniature of the American melting pot. The class day begins with a
group of Mexican children singing the ABC Song while their patriarch, buffoonish town marshal
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