Section 2: Who Were Black Cowboys? Recovering Black Cowboys Stories

Don’t leave out the cowboys.

Langston Hughes to William Loren Katz, author of The Black West, 1967

The Hollywood Western introduced millions of viewers to a fictionalized history of the American West. The heroic cowboy was often pictured as a lone, white man on horseback. These images disregarded the real stories of thousands of Black men, women and children who lived and worked on cattle ranches and on the trail. Families of Black cowboys and ranchers have worked to recover these stories for future generations.

The panel has four images, one of just calves and three of cowhands working with cattle on ranches. Captions follow: 

Caption (1): Roping calves in the open pasture on the O’Connor Duke Ranch,1935-1941.

Creditline: Louise S. O’Connor, Courtesy The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.

Caption (2): Clayton Isaiah and L.V. Terrell wrestling a calf in a cattle pen on the O’Connor Melon Ranch, 1930s.

Creditline: Louise S. O’Connor, Courtesy The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.

Caption (3): L.V. Terrell chases a calf in a pen on the O’Connor Melon Creek Ranch.

Creditline: Louise S. O’Connor, Courtesy The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.

Caption (4): Cowhands at camp wagon on the Welder-McCan cattle lease, 1950s.

Creditline: Louise S. O’Connor, Courtesy The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.