SAN ANTONIO – Bill Pickett, Nat Love, Hector Brazy and Johanna July are just a few of the names of those considered to be pioneers of Western culture.
Some of these names may not resonate enough with many cowboy culture fans and Texans. An exhibit at the Witte Museum called “Black Cowboys: An American Story” highlights their contributions.
Ronald Davis, the Witte Museum’s Curator of American History, planned the exhibit.
“One in four of all the cowboys that went on cattle drives were Black,” Davis said. “One in four, roughly 2,000 — give or take a few hundred — were Black cowboys.”
According to Davis, a common idea most people have of cowboys is a one-sided presentation that leaves many people out.
“(The mainstream image is) an image of what Hollywood has created,” Davis said. “That story leaves out a quarter of the people who actually participated.”
Davis said many plantations in Texas not only had cotton but also had cattle.
Before the Civil War, cattle barons used enslaved people to tend livestock. Enslaved people’s duties included herding, branding, roping and riding horses.
During the war, Davis said those land and cattle owners who had enslaved people left them to maintain their land and livestock while the slave owners fought in the war.
The newly freed cowboys were soon in high demand and cattle became a major commodity that helped drive the Texas economy.
Records from the Cattle Raisers Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, showed a Texas steer was worth $6. In Chicago, the steer cost $40.
The exhibit points out that more than 200,000 head of cattle were driven to northern markets alone in the mid-1800s.
The potential profits at that time prompted cattle owners to hire experienced cowboys. Many of those spots were filled by Black cowboys on the cattle trail.
Race on the Cattle Trail
According to Davis, racial bias existed on the cattle trail. However, in select life and death situations, race took a back seat to survival.
“You had this interesting juxtaposition, right? When things are dangerous, race doesn’t matter. But otherwise, we’re still in the 19th century,” Davis said. “When you get to the cattle towns, or at the end of the cattle drives, a lot of times they were segregated.”
Davis noted that some Black cowboys witnessed a change in the social dynamic between the races on the cattle trail, specifically during some of those tense situations in hostile environments.
“There were scuffles, there were fights and sometimes the Black cowboys fought by themselves,” Davis said. “But a lot of times, the guys who were on the cattle drive would stand with them. They were not treated the same way, but there was a fraternity that was built.”
Cattle drives also produced better social and economic statuses for freed Black people before — and especially after — the Civil War.
Davis named the Wilcoxes, the Alexanders, (Daniel Webster) “80 John” Wallace, John Dolford Jones and other formerly enslaved people who owned land, livestock and established their own legacies.
“All these people, even in the 1830s, you had free Black people like the Ashwoods in East Texas that purchased their ranches and were some of the largest ranchers of their times,” Davis said.
Black Cowgirls
As Black cowboys forged a path in Western Culture, Black cowgirls were trailblazers as well.
One Black cowgirl was Henrietta Williams “Aunt Rittie” Foster.
Historic records described her as a force who lived in Refugio County, Texas, and was known for riding and working cattle alongside other men.
According to accounts from her family’s estate, Foster would often boast that she was as good as any man.
Jane Warren, a cowgirl who hailed from Bexar County, registered her own cattle brand, called “the YOK.”
“She was the first black woman to do it ... in Bexar County,” Davis said.
Davis said she grew and sold her herds for profit from her labor.
Accomplishments similar to Foster and Warren’s continue to present-day Texas.
Deydra Steans manages the S3 Ranch in Luling, Texas. Her family has been working their land since the 1850s.
Steans said she is appreciative of her family ties to ranching as well as the history of pioneering Black cowgirls and other agriculture professions.
“Sometimes working in the food supply chain in this region, there are not a lot of people that look like us in those spaces,” Stearns said.
“My grandparents, for example, my grandmothers who were homesteaders: raising livestock, butchering and processing those animals and then selling and marketing it. They were in food systems,” Steans said.
“I very much feel connected to my familia legacy but also other women who we know worked in the spaces, like Fannie Lou Hamer,” she said.
Steans also said tending to the ranch and supporting all ranchers allowed her to be a steward of both Texas and Black history.
“I think it’s vitally important to the history that we have in South Texas, the history of Black cowboys and cowgirls and land owners to be well represented,” Stearns said. “It’s so important for me to just uphold that, to share space with others who are in this space and doing the work and (are) committed to our cultural legacy.”
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