Black cowboys in the American West accounted for up to an estimated 25% of cowboys "who went up the trail" from the 1860s to 1880s and substantial but unknown percentage in the rest of the ranching industry,[1] [2] estimated to be at least 5,000 workers according to recent research.[3]
Typically former slaves or born into the families of former slaves, many Black men had skills in cattle handling and headed West at the end of the Civil War. Though the industry generally treated Black men equally to White men in terms of pay and responsibilities, discrimination persisted, though to a lesser extent than in other industries of the time; historian Kenneth Porter (1994) describes the employment composition of trail parties as:
"...A trailherd outfit of about a dozen men would on the average consist of seven or eight Whites, including the trail boss, three Negroes—one of whom was probably the cook, while another might be the horse wrangler, and the third would simply be a trail hand—and one or two Mexicans; if a Negro was not the wrangler, then a Mexican often was. Needless to say, this is not the typical trail outfit of popular literature and drama...Negroes occupied all the positions among cattle-industry employees, from the usually lowly wrangler through ordinary hand to top hand and lofty cook. But they were almost never, except in the highly infrequent case of an all-Negro outfit, to be found as ranch or trail boss."
After the Reconstruction of the South after the American Civil War, freed slaves were still denied land ownership and other rights in many states, and about 20,000 Exodusters headed west to Kansas between 1879 and 1884, with smaller migrations to other Western states. Many trained under Mexican vaqueros, cattle-raising Native Americans, or their former masters. They then worked as ranch hands for wages equal to their White counterparts and offering more opportunities than existed for freemen in the South.[4]
Black men, typically former slaves, children of slaves, or working in plantations, and farms would have been exposed to kitchen work and stables as well. As early as 1770, regulations in Louisiana required two slaves to manage 100 head of cattle. White ranchers could even win competitions based on the cow-handling skills of the Black slaves in their possession. In Antebellum Texas, White ranchers referred to White workers as "cow hands," with Black people in the same position referred to with the pejorative "cow boy."[5] Prior to the abolition of slavery, the cattle trade was considered to offer a high degree of relative freedom to slaves, who would be issued guns, often left unaccompanied on horseback for long stretches, and trusted to return.
Free Black cattle drivers drove cattle from Kansas to areas including Atlanta, the Dakotas, and Canada, as well as New Mexico, Arizona, California and Oregon.[6] Some freed slaves remained with their former masters as employees. As these areas became more settled and established more practical transportation networks, the era of migrant cattle ranching came to an end.[2]
Black cowhands were typically assigned to handle horses with poor temperaments and wild behaviors, a career known as horsebreaking. Other people in the cattle trade were trail cooks, which could earn extra money over other cowhands, regardless of race. Trail menus from Black chefs included biscuits, sowbelly, beef, molasses, and coffee. Black chefs hunted deer and wild turkey between washing and kitchen cleaning duties.
Black cowhands were expected to perform on the trail, and expected to sing or to pack a musical instrument. Others served as bodyguards or money transporters, which has been attributed to the unlikelihood of thieves searching a Black man for large sums of money.
Bose Ikard served as Charles Goodnight's banker for many years. Bill Pickett was credited with inventing bulldogging.
There were Black women cowboys, though their numbers are unknown, as income was provided to a common household rather than to individual women. Women were unlikely to inherit a homestead or continue to work in ranching, as freemen and White ranchers were unlikely to work for a Black woman.[7] A few Black women cowboys are known by name, including Henrietta Williams Foster, a "legendary" cowhand.[8] Sylvia Bishop was a respected horse trainer, and Johanna July tamed horses and raised cattle.[9] There were also other Black women in notable roles in the American West, including Mary Fields, a star route postwoman, and Jane Manning James, who had a farm with her husband.[10]
Popularized across the United States in 1873 by Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild West shows showcased skills and characters of the Western United States in the form of a traveling performance including rodeo roping, Native American dances, and other acts. Among these traveling shows, African-American cowboy Jesse Stahl was famous for his saddle riding, a defining aspect of rodeos. Racism was common in rodeo competitions, and terms such as "harder to cover" could be used to mask racism in rodeo competitions under the guise that White riders had more difficult horses.
Black rodeo riders would be compared to animals, given nicknames reflecting African animals and using animal metaphors not found in descriptions of White rodeo performers. In response to their treatment and Jim Crow laws, Black cowboys formed "soul circuits," later organized as the Southwestern Colored Cowboys' Association, with the largest number of African-American cowboys participating in rural communities along the coast of Texas up to the 1940s.
Social life on the trail could be egalitarian, with White and Black cowhands sharing sleeping quarters and even blankets. Though White and Black cowhands were social equals on the trail, racist roles were resumed in the presence of White women.
Traveling trail hands leading a migration of cattle were typically low-paid at the time, though better paid in the northern states. Pay was typically negotiated per run, with large discrepancies between runs and among hires on the same run. Though Mexican ranchers often received less than a third of White hires, little evidence suggests Black hires were paid less for this work than their White counterparts. However, Black employees may have been worked harder and expected to work longer hours.
Evidence suggests that many Black cowhands took on additional labor, such as laundry, testing stream water, taking late night guard shifts, and being the first expected to take on rough horses. Despite the existence of many all-Black trail outfits, Black cowboys rarely attained a rank higher than trail cook or chuckwagon. Regardless of ability, Black men were constrained by having to negotiate with White men who might refuse to respect the authority of a Black trail leader. Denied opportunities to become a foreman or range manager, many Black cowhands trained White counterparts, with others settling land with their own cattle.
Traveling posed its own challenges to integration. Whereas saloons were typically segregated, Whites and Blacks could meet in the middle, but restaurants were socially regulated. Traveling Black men would not be seated in town restaurants where Black-only establishments had not been established, requiring Black men to order food from the back door. Most Black cowhands would purchase food and prepare it for themselves on the trail. Black men were banned outright from brothels, but welcome in gambling halls.
In the 1930s, there were a handful of Western race films with Black actors that played in segregated movie theaters for Black audiences, including Harlem on the Prairie (1937) and The Bronze Buckaroo (1939).[11]
A few mainstream Western movies and television shows in the 1960s included Black characters, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) with Woody Strode, and two episodes of The Rifleman (1962) with Sammy Davis Jr.
In 1972 the documentary Black Rodeo, narrated by Woody Strode, told stories of Black cowboys. In Blazing Saddles (1974), a Western comedy film, Cleavon Little plays Bart, a Black sheriff.
A character based on Bose Ikard was played by Danny Glover in Lonesome Dove (1989).[12] Glover also played a Black cowboy in Silverado (1985).
The 1993 Western film Posse includes Black cowboys, and Black Fox (1995) features a character based on a historical Black cowboy, Britt Johnson.[13] The 1998 children's picture book Black Cowboy, Wild Horses tells a story about Bob Lemmons.[14]
The Western film Hell on the Border (2019) features a character based on Bass Reeves, the first Black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River.
Black cowboys are prominently featured in Solange Knowles' musical short companion film to her album When I Get Home (2019), where she sought to highlight their historical influence on Black Texan culture.[15]
The Harder They Fall (2021) is a Western with characters based on historical Black people in the West, including Nat Love, Bill Pickett, and Mary Fields. The 2022 neo-western science fiction film Nope is about two Black horse-wranglers dealing with an unidentified flying object in Agua Dulce, California.[16]
On her album Cowboy Carter (2024), Beyoncé draws from Black cowboy history and culture.[17]
The Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, in Denver, Colorado, was founded in 1971 to tell the stories of Black cowboys with artifacts and exhibits.[18] Inspired by the museum, Lu Vason founded the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in 1984.[19] It has continued as a traveling rodeo that celebrates Black cowboys.[20]
The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, formerly known as the National Cowboys of Color Museum and Hall of Fame, was founded in 2001.
Present-day riding clubs in major cities include the Compton Cowboys in the Los Angeles area, Oakland Black Cowboy Association, Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club in Philadelphia, and New York City Federation of Black Cowboys. Other riding clubs include Circle L 5 in Fort Worth, Texas, founded in the early 1950s, and Cowgirls of Color.[21] In Louisiana and Texas, African-American trail rides celebrate and preserve the history of Black cowboys.[22] Photojournalist Rory Doyle has photographed many Mississippi Delta-area riders in his "Delta Hill Riders" project.[23]
Present-day Black women cowboys include Caitlin Gooch, who maintains a horse stable and works to teach Black children about Black horse culture while inspiring them to improve their reading skills.[24] Black women in the present-day rodeo industry include Nicole Scott, founder of the Midwest Invitational Rodeo, along with rodeo athletes Staci Russell, Savannah Roberts, and Aleeyah Roberts.[25] [26]