One in four?
Skeptical about that number.
Seems high to me as well.
What are the requirements for being “a cowboy”?
One was Sherriff of Rockridge,
Quite true.
Whomever wrote this has never known any real life working cowboys, cattlemen, from Oklahoma or Texas.
And, they all get along with each other just fine, usually.
I’ve read several history books and historical fiction. It appears their were quite a few. If my memory serves me, a number of them went west following the Civil War, particularly those who fought in the war.
I am very skeptical when they use the term “experts estimate”. I know that if I were born in that time, I would have been a Cowboy, Ranch hand or Dirt Farmer. It is what people do who love to work, the harder the better. You are judged by your work ethics, strength, stamina and intelligence. Who would be attracted to that? Former slaves, and those who don’t care about ethnicity so much.
Boy I miss being a working stiff. Retirement just is not for some, and I am one of the “some”.
“One in four?
Skeptical about that number.”
It’s probably accurate enough. It was labor intensive work at relatively low wages.
There weren’t hordes of illegal aliens from Mexico to hire back then.
Not as many black cowboys as there were Mexican but they were a significant presence. Lots of Indian cowboys too.
I know, not what popular culture says but pop culture is lazy. Most "cowboys" in pop culture are not cowboys but gunfighters and such.
There was a labor shortage. If you could ride, rope and stay awake on watch who cared what shade you were?
Check out the Sons of the San Joaquin and their Great American Cowboy song. Might answer your question and quell your doubt.
however I'm sure there were plenty of blacks everywhere doing well...making something of themselves, participating in America....
why do so many nowdays play the poor me race card....America has been open to go getters from day one...
Me too. There are census figures from the last half of the 19th century. I don’t see anything that agrees with such a high figure.
One in 4 African American cowboys were black?
what color were the other three
The time period being discussed might make some difference. The heyday of the cowboy era was the post-Civil War period, especially the brief interval when the first western railroads gave rise to the great cattle drives, which consisted of herding cattle to distant railheads before the railroad net had adequately penetrated the big empty spaces. The cowboy life was pretty rough. A lot of the cowboys were young men, unmarried and with no prospects at home, shaken loose by the war. There were a lot of young black men who didn't exactly want to make their new life in Alabama. A lot of young southerners went west as well. Ex-slaves and ex-rebels were overrepresented. The Germans, Irish and generic Yankees were underrepresented.