25 per cent of cowboys were African American”
This claim became popular recently but I’ve never seen any research to back it up. There weren’t many blacks total in the west (census data) so I don’t know how they break out “cowboys”. Anybody know where this idea is from?
Cowboys didn’t start in the West. Not sure the percentages, but men using horses to herd and govern cross the demographic spectrum. Some of the better hands I’ve seen came out of Hawaii; another group that has a ‘rich’ history in cattle.
No caballeros?