The cowboy lifestyle came into its own in Texas, which had been cattle country since it was colonized by Spain in the 1500s. But cattle farming did not become the bountiful economic and cultural phenomenon recognized today until the late 1800s, when millions of cattle grazed in Texas. Black Cowboys or African Americans as cattle herders (cowboys) in North America can be traced back to colonial South Carolina, where stock grazers from what is now Senegal in West Africa were specifically brought to that colony because of their unique skills (Momodu 2022). In the State of Texas, African Americans
Black men were among the first cowboys in the U.S. They roped, branded and saddled up for cattle drives. Some gained fame, such as Bill Pickett and Nat Love. Pickett, credited with creating the bulldogging technique of bringing a young steer to the ground in a rodeo.
(Bill Pickett)
Resource:
Ritchey Lith. Corp. (n.d.). "The Bull-dogger" poster. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/92500459/?loclr=blogloc
The history of African American Cowboys date back to as early as 1850 with slaves being brought to North America for their trained skills, but wet unrecognized still for a long time. According to Neely Tucker article about "Black Cowboys at 'Home on the Range' ", provides a brief insight into the various movement through African Americans being involved in the cowboy culture throughout the Southern states. Specifically, Tucker states that,
"No one knows exactly how many cowboys there were (or exactly how that title was defined). But a number of estimates by historians, including Kenneth Porter, estimate that of the 35,000 or so cowboys of the era, about 6,000 to 9,000 were Black. They worked as ropers, trail cooks, wranglers and bronco busters. Some hunted game, sang, played an instrument on the trail or performed other duties for white cattlemen. In Texas, where enslaved Black people had been more than a quarter of the population before the Civil War, as many as one in four cowhands was Black" (Tucker 2022).
Historians are tracing back the modern popularity of cowboy culture to Africans being among the first to handle cattle and train horses.
Overtime, the popular theme of Cowboys and Indians took place in cinema, the ideal Western lifestyle romanticized for viewers who didn't know the harsh realities these men had to live everyday. Thus, the romantic legend of the cowboy was born: a quiet man, capable, tough, honest, respectful of ladies and possessed of a poetic respect for the land (and his horse). In the hugely popular Wild West shows of Buffalo Bill in the late 19th century, the cowboy novels of Zane Grey in the early 20th century, then the Western films and television shows in the midcentury, those cowboys were almost always white (Tucker 2022). In 2023, Cowboy films are still popular as they first aired many years ago with audiences respecting the Cowboy as a hero in the Wild Wild West.
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