Thread revival! Why? Because I just caught up on the show, and am planning a costume from it, so naturally I came here to search for info on props and such. Sadly this was the only thread I found, but I decided to belatedly jump in the convo.
I think you're reading either too much, or not enough into it Art. While I understand your argument, I think it may not totally be valid in the way you are presenting it. Firstly, The race and gender relations you mention are just as present in HOW as they are in Deadwood. They are just presented in a much milder fashion for the platform. They also spend a lot less time focusing on it in lieu of character development.
That character development goes back to why I never could get into Deadwood. Deadwood focuses almost entirely on individual situations and violent altercations to show the brutality of living in their world, where as HOW focuses on character development and empathy. We spend less time looking at how society treats a specific individual or group of individuals, and more time looking at how that individual reacts to how society treats them.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that YOU are wrong. I'm just saying that I think you misread it. HOW shows the same oppression and violence of the era as Deadwood, they just do so in a much, MUCH, more family friendly fashion.
I also feel it's unfair to compare the two shows as they are really only LOOSELY connected by an era. Both show take place in different places, in different situations, with different social pressures being placed on them. An outside attacking force will bring people together far more than an inside corruption. The recent political climate is a great example of this. When we were under threat of terrorist attack, Americans were together in their stand, but when it came down to the last election, we were ready to throw our closest friends under the bus for their political views.
Now somebody help me find Bohannon's knife!