San Antonio – Bill Pickett, Nat Love, Hector Blasey, Johanna July are just a few of the names of people considered pioneers of Western culture.
Some of these names may not resonate well with many cowboy culture fans and Texans. The exhibit at the Witte Museum, dubbed “Black Cowboys: The Story of America,” highlights their contributions.
Ronald Davis, curator of American history at the Witte Museum, planned the exhibition.
“One in four cowboys who went on a cow drive were black,” Davis said. “One in four people, about 2,000 people — giving or taking hundreds — were black cowboys.”
According to Davis, the general idea that most people have about cowboys is a one-sided presentation that excludes many people.
“The mainstream image is something Hollywood created,” Davis said. “That story excludes a quarter of the people who actually participated.”
Davis said many plantations in Texas have cotton as well as cows.
Before the Civil War, the cow baron used enslaved people to care for their livestock. The duties of enslaved people include herds, branding, ropes and riding hoses.
During the war, Davis said that while the slave owners were fighting in the war, the land and cattle owners who enslaved the people left them to maintain the land and livestock.
The newly released Cowboys quickly became a high demand, and cows became a major product that helped drive the Texas economy.
Records from the Cow Razors Museum in Fort Worth, Texas showed that Texas pilots were worth $6. In Chicago, steer costs $40.
The exhibit points to the fact that in the mid-1800s, more than 200,000 Ushinagas were forced to go to the North Market alone.
Potential benefits at the time led cow owners to hire experienced cowboys. Many of these spots were filled by black cowboys on the cow trail.
Racing on the cow trail
Davis said there was racial bias on the cattle trail. However, in selected life and death situations, race took the back seat for survival.
“There was this interesting juxtaposition, right? Race doesn’t matter when things are dangerous, but otherwise we’re still in the 19th century,” Davis said. “When we arrived in the town of cows, or at the end of the cattle drive, they were often separated.”
Davis noted that some black cowboys have witnessed changes in social dynamics between races on cow trails, especially in some tense situations in hostile environments.
“There were brawls, there were fights, sometimes black cowboys fought on their own,” Davis said. “But in many cases people who were on the cow drive would stand with them. They weren’t treated the same way, but there was a fraternity built.”
Also, bull driving created better social and economic status before the civil war, especially for the black people who were released later.
Davis named Wilcox, Alexanders, (Daniel Webster) “80 John” Wallace, John Dulford Jones, and other once enslaved people who owned land, livestock and established their own heritage.
“All of these people, even in the 1830s, had free black people like Ashwood in eastern Texas, bought ranches and were some of the biggest ranchers of the era,” Davis said.
Black cowgirl
When black cowboys built the path of Western culture, black cowgirls were also pioneers.
One of the black cowgirls was Henrietta “Auntie Litty” Williams Foster.
Historical records were a unit that lived in Refugio County, Texas, and were known for working alongside other men on cow rides.
Explained from her family’s estate, Foster often boasted that she was as good as other men.
Jane Warren, a cowgirl from Bexar County, has registered her own cow brand called “YOK.”
“She was the first black woman to do that… in Bexar County,” Davis said.
Davis said she grew up and sold the herd to profit from her labor.
A similar achievement to Foster and Warren’s current Texas.
Deydra Steans manages the S3 Ranch in Luling, Texas. Her family has been working on the land since the 1850s.
Steans said he appreciates her family ties and the ranch and the history of pioneering black cowgirls and other agricultural professionals.
“We sometimes work in the food supply chain in the area, but not many people in those spaces look like us,” Stearns said.
“My grandparents, like my grandmother, who was a house: they raise livestock, slaughter those animals, process them, sell them and market them. They were in the food system,” Steens said.
“I’m not only involved in the Familia heritage, but I also feel very much from other women who worked in the space, like Fanny Lou Hammer,” she said.
Steans also said that there was a ranch trend and by supporting all ranchers, she allowed her to become the custodian of both Texas and black history.
“I think it’s very important that the history of black cowboys, cowgirls and landowners is fully represented,” Stearns said. “It’s very important to me that I support sharing and working with others in this space and committing to our cultural heritage.”
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