At the end of the American Civil War, African-American soldier Joshua is on his way back home. Unfortunately, one day before his arrival, a gang of five white thugs kills his mother, severely wounds her neighbor, Sam, and kidnaps Sam's new bride.

When Joshua finally arrives home, he is given the sad news about his mother's murder. The Sheriff and his posse returns empty handed from their attempt to catch the murderers who vanished into the nearby hills.

As soon as Joshua find out what has happened, he grabs his late father’s rifle, jumps on his horse, and set off for revenge. When the sheriff warns him that the gang is violent, bloodthirsty, and large, Joshua replies, “I just finished fighting a war, Sheriff. I’ve killed twice that.”

Joshua carries the vengeance in his heart and goes after the baddies in an interminable pursuit. Former rules of the code of West are dated and he's is guided by unrelenting revenge. He embarks on a bloody reckoning and during his quest helps a beautiful Mexican woman (Isela Vega). The black rider travels the Soutwestern territories and becomes a bounty hunter, determined to track down himself, and eliminate the men who killed his mother.

Dressed in all black and not showing a hint of emotion, Williamson dominates the screen as he rides across the countryside and finds creative ways to kill the members of the gang. One by one, each victim is executed by decapitation, hanging, a rattle-snake, or dynamite.

A 1976 American Blaxploitation Western film (a/k/a "Black Rider", "Joshua the Black Rider" or "Revenge") produced & directed by Larry G. Spangler, written by Fred Williamson, cinematography by Robert Hopkins, starring Fred Williamson, Cal Bartlett, Brenda Venus, Isela Vega, Bud Stout, Henry Hendrick, Ralph Willingham, and Kathryn Jackson.

Along with Richard Harris, Fred Williamson is one of the unlikely western stars of the 1970s. Yet he made more westerns in that decade than Clint Eastwood. Frederick Robert Williamson (born March 5, 1938), "the Hammer", a former professional football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League (AFL) during the 1960s, became an actor in the mold of star running back Jim Brown. He acted alongside Brown in "Three the Hard Way" (1974), "Take a Hard Ride" (1975), "Original Gangstas" (1996), "On the Edge" (2002), and "One Down, Two to Go" (1982), which also featured Jim Kelly. In October 1973, Williamson posed nude for Playgirl magazine. Williamson's early television roles included a role in the original Star Trek episode "The Cloud Minders" (1969).

Blaxploitation could also be applied to Westerns. Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement, the Black power movement, and the Black Panthers spurred black artists to reclaim power over their image, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for students of color to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters, or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.

Film critic Ian Jane wrote, "If you're a Williamson fan, you'll enjoy the film as he basically carries it and does a pretty decent job as the steely eyed man of few words. The film makes great use of its locations and is well photographed - the widescreen compositions are frequently impressive, and the movie zips along at a good pace, but it's not the most original western ever made in terms of story or character development. That said, there's enough action and intrigue here to keep most fans happy and, as mentioned, Williamson makes the most of his leading man status in this picture. Brenda Venus is also pretty captivating here, the camera loves her and you can't really blame it. She's alluring enough that you can certainly understand Sam's desire to get her back. If not a classic, Joshua is still a pretty worthwhile watch, particularly if you're a Williamson fan.

An average Western revenge with enough violence, riding chases, shootout, grisly killings, and results to be entertaining. It's vengeance with unstopped pursuit starring the king of blaxploitation, Fred Williamson. People looking for a serious or realistic western will be disappointed but if you just want to watch Fred Williamson be Fred Williamson in one of the best films he ever appeared in, this fits the bill.