White Americans seeking cheap land-and sometimes evading debt in the United States-began moving to the Spanish (and, later, Mexican) territory of Texas during the first half of the 19th century. But cattle farming did not become the bountiful economic and cultural phenomenon recognized today until the late 1800s, when millions of cattle grazed in Texas. The cowboy lifestyle came into its own in Texas, which had been cattle country since it was colonized by Spain in the 1500s. ![]() And though African-American cowboys don’t play a part in the popular narrative, historians estimate that one in four cowboys were black. Love was African-American, born into slavery near Nashville, Tennessee.įew images embody the spirit of the American West as well as the trailblazing, sharpshooting, horseback-riding cowboy of American lore. Though Love’s tales from the frontier seem typical for a 19th-century cowboy, they come from a source rarely associated with the Wild West. And when not, as he put it, “engaged in fighting Indians,” he amused himself with activities like “dare-devil riding, shooting, roping and such sports.” He describes Dodge City, Kansas, a town smattered with the romanticized institutions of the frontier: “a great many saloons, dance halls, and gambling houses, and very little of anything else.” He moved massive herds of cattle from one grazing area to another, drank with Billy the Kid and participated in shootouts with Native peoples defending their land on the trails. ![]() In his 1907 autobiography, cowboy Nat Love recounts stories from his life on the frontier so cliché, they read like scenes from a John Wayne film.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |