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![]() For example, a Black cowboy that was a trail cook would be expected to cook, hunt deer and wild turkey, perform on the trail by singing or playing a musical instrument. Typically, African American cowboys had more than one duty. Black cowboys were usually assigned horses with “wild behaviors” and they had to train them to be ridden. The everyday life of all cowboys on the job was usually rough regardless of a cowboy’s racial or ethnic background. So, it is no surprise that the racial issues prevalent in the North and South were also impacting the American West. Many southerners moved to the West and westerners would have been familiar with southern racial etiquette. Originally, White cowboys were called cowhands, and African Americans were pejoratively referred to as “cowboys.” African American men being called “boy” regardless of their age stems from slavery and the plantation era in the South. ![]() Vaqueros were the original cowboys of the American West and their skills transformed the cattle industry, especially in California. Black cowboys were taught the cowboy way of life by vaqueros, who were Mexican or Spanish cowboys, their former slave masters, or Native American cattle handlers. While they were enslaved many African Americans had acquired skills that were useful for the cattle industry. Being a cowboy was one of the few ways African American men and some women were able to obtain autonomy and freedom in ways typically unheard of during the 19 th century.Īfter the Civil War ended in 1865 many African Americans migrated to the West or became free people in the West. ![]() Since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s historians and other scholars have inquired more about the integral role African Americans played in the settlement and development of the West. ![]() Oftentimes popular films and literature that depict the Wild West fail to convey the diverse nature of the Western Frontier. Did you know that 1 out of every 4 cowboys was Black? Historians now estimate that between 20 to 25% of cowboys in the American West were African American. ![]()
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