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The Negro Cowboys
More than five thousand Negro cowboys joined the round-ups and served on the ranch crews in the cattleman era of the West. Lured by the open range, the chance for regular wages, and the opportunity to start new lives, they made vital contributions to the transformation of the West. They, their predecessors, and their successors rode on the long cattle drives, joined the cavalry, set up small businesses, fought on both sides of the law. Some of them became famous: Jim Beckwourth, the mountain man; Bill Pickett, king of the rodeo; Cherokee Bill, the most dangerous man in Indian Territory; and Nat Love, who styled himself "Deadwood Dick." They could hold their own with any creature, man or beast, that got in the way of a cattle drive. They worked hard, thought fast, and met or set the highest standards for cowboys and range riders.
278 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 11, 2022
Now they are forgotten, but once they rode all the trails, driving millions of cattle before them. Some died in stampedes, some froze to death, some drowned. Some were too slow with guns, some too fast. But most of them lived through the long drives to Abilene, to Dodge City, to Ogallala. And many of them drove on to the farthest reaches of the northern range, to the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana.
They numbered thousands, among them many of the best riders, ropers and wranglers….Some were villains, some were heroes…..
They were the Negro Cowboys.
They rode with white Texans, Mexicans and Indians.... [They] shared the same jobs and dangers. They ate the same food and slept on the same ground; but when the long drives ended and the great plains were tamed and fenced, the trails ended too. The cattle were fenced in, the Negroes fenced out.” – Prologue, The Negro Cowboys
The history of the American West eventually became myth and legend. The cowboys became folk heroes, but they were all white. It is estimated that Black cowboys accounted for twenty-five percent of those who rode the cattle ranges from the end of the Civil War to the 1880s. That percentage represents at least five thousand men, probably more, working in the cattle-range industry during that era.
However, there was no place for them in the countless number of fictional stories that were written about the era or in the Western movies and television productions that once dominated the big and little screens in the United States. The Black cowboy had vanished.
In their ground-breaking study, Durham and Jones made a gallant effort to reintegrate him into the Western experience, and although gains have since been achieved in this process, it has not been completed. There is still much work to be done.
How ironic that the initial effort was the work, not of historians, but of two UCLA English professors.
They wrote in the preface:
As teachers of English, the authors came upon this subject through a long-standing interest in the backgrounds of Western American literature. Pursuing this interest we discovered, to our surprise, an unimagined number of Negro cowboys, who had been dropped from the history of the West….The more we read, the more we realized that the subject demanded treatment.
Finally, a word about the title:
Had it been written a few years later it may very well have been “The Black Cowboys,” but when it was published in 1965, Negro was more commonly accepted, as exemplified by Martin Luther King’s usage of that identification of his race in his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Only later, because of its historical association with slavery and segregation, Negro was rejected in favor of black, Afro-American, and now African-American.
May 25, 2016
One of the best books I've ever read. Prior to this book, I hardly knew that there were any Black cowboys, coach riders, and lawmen in the Old West during the latter third of the 19th century. This book gave me a rich education, showing me a side of America of which I had no inkling.
March 4, 2011
Much more scholarly in nature than "Adventures of the Negro Cowboys." Lots of references and much more detail. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Eye-opening.
August 16, 2016
Fascinating. I'm grateful people care enough to collect and distribute these treasures from the past.
April 15, 2012
I have known about this book for a long time and wish now that I'd read it years ago. It is a retelling of the Western American saga, with a focus on cattlemen and cowboys and, as the title indicates, the presence of black Americans among them. The all-white collective picture of the West is largely the creation of Hollywood, whose images and stories so dominate the memory of our own past.
The two UCLA professors whose research this book represents have done more than simply prove that there were large numbers of black cowboys. They hardly even take time to lament the erasure of blacks from this chapter of our history. Instead, they're eager to share with us what they've discovered in their research. And they enthusiastically assemble for us a social history of the Wild West that is peopled in nearly every walk of life with black Americans, both law-abiding and criminal, essentially reflecting the entire demographic of the West itself.
The book's chapters follow the spread of the cattle business from early days in Texas before the Civil War to the states west and north, reaching all the way to Montana by the 1880s. The great cattle drives are described, and using an extensive array of contemporary documents, the authors establish the role of young black men on horseback as equals to their white compatriots. Growing older, many became cooks for the cowboy crews, while younger and lesser-experienced black men wrangled the cowboys' horses.
Meanwhile, because newspapers tended to focus on violence and mayhem, the presence of many blacks in the American West has been recorded by the press in reports of shootings, murders, and other crimes. More typically blacks were victims, but that was not always the case. The more pastoral versions of some portrayals of the West pale in comparison with Durham and Jones' account, which tends to give a more tabloid sensationalism to their material.
Finally, the book gives us a vast panorama of men and women of all kinds participating in this mythic period of American history. Reading this book, you will have your mental picture of the Wild West illuminated by story after story, in the voices of those who lived and remembered those times. And your sense of American history will be thoroughly readjusted. Thanks again to the University of Nebraska Press for keeping another fine book in print.
The two UCLA professors whose research this book represents have done more than simply prove that there were large numbers of black cowboys. They hardly even take time to lament the erasure of blacks from this chapter of our history. Instead, they're eager to share with us what they've discovered in their research. And they enthusiastically assemble for us a social history of the Wild West that is peopled in nearly every walk of life with black Americans, both law-abiding and criminal, essentially reflecting the entire demographic of the West itself.
The book's chapters follow the spread of the cattle business from early days in Texas before the Civil War to the states west and north, reaching all the way to Montana by the 1880s. The great cattle drives are described, and using an extensive array of contemporary documents, the authors establish the role of young black men on horseback as equals to their white compatriots. Growing older, many became cooks for the cowboy crews, while younger and lesser-experienced black men wrangled the cowboys' horses.
Meanwhile, because newspapers tended to focus on violence and mayhem, the presence of many blacks in the American West has been recorded by the press in reports of shootings, murders, and other crimes. More typically blacks were victims, but that was not always the case. The more pastoral versions of some portrayals of the West pale in comparison with Durham and Jones' account, which tends to give a more tabloid sensationalism to their material.
Finally, the book gives us a vast panorama of men and women of all kinds participating in this mythic period of American history. Reading this book, you will have your mental picture of the Wild West illuminated by story after story, in the voices of those who lived and remembered those times. And your sense of American history will be thoroughly readjusted. Thanks again to the University of Nebraska Press for keeping another fine book in print.
November 22, 2020
We have missed the diverse history of the west in ways. This book adds to the store of knowledge of the incredibly numerous black cowboys, explorers, and trail breakers of the West. Racism does exist in the writing of history. It is revealing that the color line, according to this book, was not as prevalent, with equality being based upon character and integrity and doing your job well. This book is so eye-opening, filled with research and revelation, as well as wonder and humor attached to the characters. This is not a fiction book, but a very enlightening study of reality.
August 9, 2020
Glad to have finally read this based upon Don Flemons’ recommendation. Extremely well researched and full of notes and anecdotes about Black cowboys. It goes through a general history of cattleherding, which is both interesting and informative for someone like me who had almost no base knowledge. The final chapter looking at the progression and whitewashing of Western storytelling is incredible stuff and still (unfortunately) remains relevant 55 years after publication.
January 10, 2018
I enjoyed reading the accounts of some of the men and women who helped shaped the counrty. When I was young, my great aunt gave me this book to read. She told me to understand every part of history.
February 12, 2009
very enjoyable- even exciting. never hits you over the head. this is what The Black West is supposed to be. although that has a similar pressing message and is equally valuable, this is effectively limited in scope and becomes more accessible and somehow, more real.
to paraphrase the authors:
A catalog of black history can quickly become as dull as a hardware store inventory. Only when it is a part of a story...does it they take on coherence and meaning.
italics are my words
to paraphrase the authors:
A catalog of black history can quickly become as dull as a hardware store inventory. Only when it is a part of a story...does it they take on coherence and meaning.
italics are my words
January 9, 2009
What I've read of this book is excellent. It is great to learn more about the 1/3 of the population that settled the West that have been overlooked in the history books. As a fan of the Old West, and an African American history buff, it was a great pleasure to read about people of African American heritage's contribution to the West. Great reference book as well (as I am interested in writing Westerns).
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October 17, 2017978.00496 D9617 1983
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews