Exploring Black cowboy culture -

At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2025, Beyoncé finally won Album of the Year, for 'Cowboy Carter.' The album serves as a journey through the reinvention of Americana, spotlighting the overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history, including those made by Black cowboys.

Black cowboy culture has its roots in the frontier lands of late 1800s Texas, when African Americans accounted for up to an estimated 25% of cowboys working in the territory. History, however, has often overlooked this fact. So what was the contribution made by these Black cowhands and herdsmen in building the American West, and who are the pioneers we need to acknowledge?

Click through and explore the fascinating origins of Black cowboy culture.

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'Cowboy Carter' is Album of the Year -

'Cowboy Carter' won Beyoncé the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album is titled after a character, "Cowboy Carter," who is inspired by the original Black cowboys of the American West.

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The "Yeehaw Agenda" -

Previously, Beyoncé's song 'Daddy Lessons' on her 2016 album 'Lemonade' helped create the "Yeehaw Agenda," a trend of reclaiming Black cowboy culture through music and fashion.

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Origins of Black cowboy culture -

In the American West of the late 1800s, one in four cowboys was Black. In fact, African Americans accounted for up to an estimated 25% of cowboys from the 1860s to 1880s, according to historians. So why aren't they more present in popular culture?

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Slave trade arrives in Texas -

The cowboy is traditionally seen as a product of Texas. As Americans blazed a trail west, many brought with them slaves. By 1825, slaves accounted for nearly 25% of the Texas settler population.

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The American Civil War -

Texas joined the Confederacy in 1861, though the Civil War was mostly fought in the eastern theater. Nevertheless, many white Texans took up arms and rode out East to fight alongside their brethren.

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The Black cowboy hones his skills -

While Texas ranchers fought for the Confederate cause, they depended on their slaves to maintain their land and cattle herds back home. In doing so, the enslaved men honed their riding techniques and developed the skills of cattle tending.

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Black conscripts in the Union Army -

According to the National Archives, Black soldiers serving in the Union Army numbered around 179,000, many of whom volunteered for the cavalry.

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The Buffalo Soldiers -

After the war, United States Army regiments composed exclusively of African Americans were formed to serve on the American frontier. These special units were known as Buffalo Soldiers.

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A lost cause -

Back in Texas, meanwhile, many ranchers returning from the war discovered that their herds were lost or running wild, a result of too few cowhands and a lack of adequate containment.

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Emancipation Proclamation -

Efforts to round up the errant cattle and rebuild herds with slave labor proved futile. Furthermore, the Emancipation Proclamation had left ranch owners without the free workers on which they were so dependent. Disgruntled ranchers eventually had no option but to hire now-free, skilled African Americans as paid cowhands.

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Respect and equality -

African-American herdsmen often faced discrimination in the towns they passed through. But within their own crews, Black cowboys enjoyed a level of respect and equality unknown to others of their ilk at the time.

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Nat Love (1854–1921) -

One of the most famous Black cowboys of the era was Nat Love. As well as being a skilled horseman, Love was a talented writer. In 1907, he published an autobiography. In it, he recalled the camaraderie of cowboys with admiration and wrote of meeting the lawmen Pat Garrett and Bat Masterson, and the outlaw Billy the Kid, among others, while working the cattle drives in Arizona.

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Black cowboys and the cattle drives -

Freed Black cowhands were known to have driven cattle from Kansas to areas including Atlanta, the Dakotas, and Canada, as well as New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Oregon. They were frequently tasked with bringing wild horses under the saddle, a job known as horsebreaking, and also undertook more menial work, such as cooking.

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Bose Ikard (1843–1929) -

Bose Ikard was an African-American cowboy who worked on the Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving cattle drive in the late 19th century. The fictional Josh Deets in Texas novelist Larry McMurtry's 'Lonesome Dove,' published in 1985, was said to be inspired by Ikard.

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Isam Dart (1858–1900) -

Cattle driver and rancher Isam Dart was an accomplished bronco buster—another term for a horsebreaker. But he was also a notorious outlaw, his stock-in-trade being cattle rustling. On October 3, 1900, Dart was shot and killed, believed to have been assassinated by Tom Horn, a hired gunman.

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Crawford Goldsby (1876–1896) -

Crawford Goldsby, aka "Cherokee Bill," was of mixed heritage: his father was African American and a former Buffalo Soldier while his mother claimed African, Native, and white ancestry. Goldsby led a life of crime and was responsible for the murders of several men. He was eventually hanged for his misdeeds.

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Rufus Buck Gang -

One of the most ruthless bands of outlaws operating in the Old West was the Rufus Buck Gang. Its members were Creek Indian and African American, with Rufus Buck and Lucky Davis were among the Black members of the company.

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Bass Reeves (1838–1910) -

A number of Black cowboys became famed lawmen, including a former runaway slave called Bass Reeves. He was one of the first African-American US deputy marshals west of the Mississippi River, mostly working in the dangerous Indian Territory.

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African Americans and law enforcement -

Bass, seen on the left in the photograph, was renowned for his linguistic skills—he could speak the languages of several Native American tribes, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek. Interestingly, this image features another Black US marshal in the lineup, though he is unidentified.

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Bill Pickett (1870–1932) -

Perhaps the most celebrated Black cowboy is Bill Pickett. Born in 1870 in Texas to former slaves, Pickett became one of the most famous early rodeo stars.

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Bulldogging -

Pickett spent his early life on a ranch, where he learned to ride a horse and developed a unique method of catching stray cows called bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground.

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101 Ranch Wild West Show -

Pickett became quite the celebrity, known for his tricks and stunts at local county fairs. In 1905, he joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that featured the likes of Buffalo Bill, Will Rogers, and Tom Mix. Performing under the name "The Dusky Demon," Pickett was soon a popular performer who toured the world and even appeared in early motion pictures.

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First Black honoree -

In 1972, 40 years after his death, Bill Pickett became the first Black honoree in the National Rodeo Hall of Fame. He is regarded as a pioneering figure in the long tradition of African-American rodeo cowboys.

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Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo -

Today, the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo celebrates and honors Black cowboys and cowgirls and their contributions to building the American West.

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More than a competition -

Founded in 1984, it is the nation's only touring Black rodeo competition and serves to educate people about African-American Western heritage.

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Cowboys and cowgirls -

The event showcases numerous competitions, including bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, and junior and ladies breakaway roping.

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Reenacting history -

The rodeo also embraces cowboy culture, educating and entertaining audiences with reenactments, history highlights, and Western adventure.

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'Lonesome Dove' (1989) -

Black cowboy culture has also been elevated in film and television. In the miniseries 'Lonesome Dove' (1989), Danny Glover portrays the previously mentioned Josh Deet.

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'Django Unchained' (2012) -

In Quentin Tarantino's revisionist Western 'Django Unchained,' Jamie Foxx portrays a slave turned cowboy who trains under a German bounty hunter with the ultimate goal of reuniting with his wife.

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'Magnificent Seven' (2016) -

In 'The Magnificent Seven,' Denzel Washington is said to have styled his fictional character Sam Chisholm, a United States Marshal, on Bass Reeves.

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'Concrete Cowboy' (2020) -

And 'Concrete Cowboy,' starring Idris Elba, was inspired by the real urban African-American horse-riding culture of Philadelphia.

Sources: (Rolling Stone) (Smithsonian Magazine) (National Archives) (Bill Pickett Rodeo) (HuffPost) 

See also: The rise of Black lead characters in Hollywood

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