Stories of Old West cowboys often conjure up evocative images of rodeos, cattle ranches and wild gunfights — stereotypes popularized by Hollywood on the silver screen. Unfortunately, some Old West history is less well known.
Did you know that 1 in 4 cowboys was Black?
A special exhibition at the Witte Museum aims to paint a clearer picture of what cowboy culture was really like, especially through the lens of African American history.
Ronald Davis, curator of American History at the Witte Museum, joins Robert Rivard on the bigcitysmalltown podcast to talk about Black Cowboys: An American Story, an exhibition that explores the lives of the free and enslaved Black men, women and children who worked on Texas ranches at the turn of the 20th century.
The exhibition is “forcing people to reimagine what they understood the cowboy to be,” Davis says. “The cowboy was an inclusive figure” that became iconic within the history of Texas and the American West.
However, “in making [the cowboy] an iconic figure it seems like there were certain narratives removed from the story.” The Witte is committed to sharing these untold stories.
The special exhibition has received overwhelmingly positive feedback as its been on display previously at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma. It provides African American visitors to see themselves in history and connects modern traditions with the past.
“There is a strong tradition of Black cowboys, especially as you go East of San Antonio into Fort Bend County, Liberty County … in other places like out in Victoria as well,” Davis says, speaking of current day rodeo circuits that focus on Black cowboys.
“These people understand their heritage and their history… They trace their lineage back to enslaved cowboys.”
The Witte will deepen the conversation of Black history in Texas during the upcoming 2024 Conference on Texas called Ode to Juneteenth: Slavery in Texas. Co-presented in partnership with the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum (SAAACAM) and the Smithsonian, the conference is a chance for the local community to talk openly about slavery and from a humanistic perspective.
While there were scholars in the early 20th century writing on the topic, Davis says that the study of slavery in Texas is young. “Some of the social history aspects of Texas slavery doesn’t really get started until the [1980s].”
Davis tells Rivard that “it was necessary to do a conference that centered the enslaved experience in Texas” focusing on the what it was like to be mothers, fathers and families under those circumstances.
Panels at the conference will cover many topics including slavery through art, the history of black resistance, enslaved cowboys, state prison farms, struggles of runaway slaves and the legacy of Juneteenth.
There’s so much to explore about Texas’ history and “we understand as an institution that this is information we want all Texans to know, all Americans to know, so we understand our past better.”
Ode to Juneteenth: Slavery in Texas will take place on Dec 5 and 6 at the Witte Museum. Tickets and a schedule of events are available here.
Black Cowboys: An American Story is now open and runs through Feb. 9, 2025. For more information, visit the Witte Museum website.
