Historians estimate that one in four cowboys were African American, though you’d never guess because the conventional Hollywood image of a cowboy is a white man. Black cowboys have been written out of history, along with the original cattle-raising Native Americans and Mexican vaqueros who taught them. So what are the real origins of cowboy culture in the US? And is there more to modern black cowboy culture than Old Town Road and Lil Nas X? Josh Toussaint-Strauss talks to some of the Black riders who are keeping the history of Black cowboy culture alive
Brianna's Mulatto Meadows ► www.mulattomeadows.com/humble
Larry's Black Cowboy Museum ► www.blackcowboymuseum.org/
Randy's Compton Cowboys ► www.comptoncowboys.com/
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Further reading:
For the Compton Cowboys, Horseback Riding Is a Legacy, and Protection ► www.nytimes.com/2018/03/31/us/compton-cowboys-horseback-riding-african-americans.html
Evoking History, Black Cowboys Take to the Streets ► www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/us/black-cowboys-protests-compton.html
The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America's Urban Heartland www.harpercollins.com/products/the-compton-cowboys-walter-thompson-hernandez?variant=32231860535330
Where have all the black cowboys gone? ► www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/11/where-have-all-the-black-cowboys-gone
Black ranching frontiers ► yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300179927/black-ranching-frontiers
Black cowboys: Creole trail rides showcase unique culture ► www.theguardian.com/global/2018/sep/21/creole-cowboys-calvert-texas-louisiana
The black cowboys of Mississippi ► www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/feb/15/the-black-cowboys-of-mississippi-in-pictures
The lesser known history of African American cowboys ► www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesser-known-history-african-american-cowboys-180962144/
