Transcript Real American Cowboys

Real American Cowboys
Who were the cowboys?
• The word cowboy refers to the men who
drove herds of cattle from ranchland in
Texas over hundreds of miles of rough
and dangerous terrain to the stockyards
in the North, a trip taking two to three
months.
• A typical crew consisted of one trail
chief, eight cowboys, a wrangler to take
care of the horses, and a cook.
– www.africanaonline.com
Who were cowboys?
• Frontier regions lack the extensive
documentation typical of cities.
• According to the highest estimate, the trail
drives north from Texas (1866 to 1895)
employed about 63 % white, 25 % black, and
12 % Mexican or Mexican-American
cowboys.
• Most black and Hispanic cowboys faced
social and economic discrimination in the
West as they did elsewhere in the country.
– Richard Slatta of the Lazy S Ranch
Black Cowboys
• African-Americans
came to cattle country
most often as slaves.
• By the start of the Civil
War in 1861, Texas
had over 180,000
black inhabitants and
close to four million
head of cattle.
– www.africanaonline.co
m
Black Cowboys
• Although black cowboys seldom became trail
chiefs or owned their own stock—although some
did—they encountered less discrimination along
the cattle trail than in most other occupations at
the time.
• While riding herd, black and white cowboys
depended upon each other. They lived, ate, and
slept together.
• "There, a man's work was to be done, and a
man's life to be lived, and when death was to be
met, he met it like a man.” - Nat Love aka
“Deadwood Dick”
Caballeros
• Caballeros were Spanish-born Americans
that moved north of the Rio Grande to settle
new lands throughout the Southwest 200
years before the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth Rock.
• Cabellero means gentleman, and it was one
of the highest, noblest positions a man
could have.
– National Geographic Online
Vaqueros
• Lower class,
independent settlers
were called vaqueros,
and they were the
original cowboys.
• They were very proud,
skilled cattle drivers
whose traditions and
heritage continues to
today.
– National Geographic
Online
Vaqueros
• “One out of every
three cowboys in the
late 1800s was the
Mexican vaquero.”
– Kendall Nelson,
Gathering
Remnants: A Tribute
to the Working
Cowboy
Is this different from cowboy
movies and country music?