The Lesser-Known History of African-American Cowboys
(Pictured: Nat Love, aka “Deadwood Dick”)
One in four cowboys was black. So why aren’t they more present in popular culture?
Few images embody the spirit of the American West as well as the trailblazing, sharpshooting, horseback-riding cowboy of American lore. And though African-American cowboys don’t play a part in the popular narrative, historians estimate that one in four cowboys were black.
The cowboy lifestyle came into its own in Texas, which had been cattle country since it was colonized by Spain in the 1500s. 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.
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. Though the Mexican government opposed slavery, Americans brought slaves with them as they settled the frontier and established cotton farms and cattle ranches. By 1825, slaves accounted for nearly 25 percent of the Texas settler population. By 1860, fifteen years after it became part of the Union, that number had risen to over 30 percent—that year’s census reported 182,566 slaves living in Texas.
“Right after the Civil War, being a cowboy was one of the few jobs open to men of color who wanted to not serve as elevator operators or delivery boys or other similar occupations,” says William Loren Katz, a scholar of African-American history and the author of 40 books on the topic, including The Black West.
Freed blacks skilled in herding cattle found themselves in even greater demand when ranchers began selling their livestock in northern states, where beef was nearly ten times more valuable than it was in cattle-inundated Texas. (read more)
Rhone Family Papers
A century of the Round Top — and PVAMU alums — family’s history was discovered and preserved, offering a window into the middle-class lives of African-Americans long ago
(Texas Co-op Power Magazine)
Rhone family ornate bible
Sometimes, even a chicken coop can be a cradle of history. In 1897, Calvin and Lucia Rhone bought 100 acres three miles northwest of this (Round Top) community of culture.
They brought their love letters, financial papers and family photos. They brought their five children and then had four more (another three died at birth). All 12 births were recorded by hand in the big, ornate family Bible.
The Rhones bought 103 more acres in 1917, all within what is now the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative service area. The family raised turkeys and grew cotton on their 203-acre farm. They also cultivated history.
This respected African-American family, standouts in Round Top as teachers and farmers, preserved scores of personal artifacts that today tell a story of post-Civil War segregation, black perseverance and education, racial integration, family love and the minutiae of everyday life, starting more than a century ago. Treasures include letters from the 1800s, photos of African-Americans, and educational records.
The relics were found withering in a chicken coop before being collected by the University of Texas at Austin’s history center, now known as the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
The artifacts, called the Rhone Family Papers, are just the type of household heirlooms that help preserve black history in America. Specifically, they capture some of the character and dynamics of an admired, multigenerational family of middle-class African-Americans in rural Texas. (read more, scroll to page 18)
Lois Dickson Rice: The African American Woman Behind Pell Grants
Lois Dickson Rice (left) and her daughter Susan Rice, former national security advisor for President Barack Obama.
(Black Enterprise) They’ve been called “the cornerstone of African American higher education.” Indeed, according to a 2011 report by Mark Kantrowitz, a nationally recognized expert on student financial aid, scholarships, and student loans, black students receive nearly half (46.3%) of all Pell Grants.
Named for Sen. Claiborne Pell, a Democrat from Rhode Island, who was the grant program’s chief sponsor, Pell Grants were developed and promoted by a daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Lois Dickson Rice, who passed away in January at age 83.
In her obituary in the New York Times, Pell’s grandson, Clay Pell IV, a former deputy assistant secretary of the Education Department, said in a statement, “This program was not inevitable, and it would not have come into existence without her, nor survived in the decades since without her passionate advocacy.” Rice was truly another one of black history’s hidden figures.
An accomplished businesswoman at a time when such achievement was rare for either black people or women, Rice was a director on several boards of important companies, including Firestone and McGraw-Hill. She was a senior vice president of Control Data Corp. and joined the College Board in 1959.
It was at the College Board that Rice promoted and helped to develop the Pell Grant program, which has helped countless low-income students of all races to attend college.
Rice deserves an honored place in the pantheon of black American historical figures; not only for her personal successes but also for the way she helped to pave the way for others. (read more about Lois Rice in NYT obit)
The Tragic And Ignored History Of Black Veterans
Soldiers of the 369th Infantry who won the Croix de Guerre from France for gallantry in action, 1919.
Between the end of the Civil War and World War II, many black veterans who fought for their country’s ideals abroad became victims of violent racism at home.
Dozens of African-American veterans were the targets of racially motivated attacks detailed in “Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans,” a report by the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama. Because a victim’s military service was often overlooked by newspapers and officials at the time, the report cites only the lynching of veterans whose military service was verified by EJI, according to Jennifer Taylor, a staff lawyer and one of the report’s authors. The number of veterans killed during this time period is likely much higher.
The latest report is the follow-up to a larger investigation by EJI published in 2015 that documented more than 4,000 lynchings — extrajudicial killings that often occurred in public — of African-Americans between 1877 and 1950.
The lynching of veterans served a particular purpose: African-Americans who’d served their country with honor posed a threat to the established racial hierarchy that was used to justify Jim Crow-era racism. Their murders were aimed at silencing the powerful voices of dissent against the racist system
The detailed accounts paint a graphic picture of racial violence in America and its insidious impact even on the men who answered their country’s call. It’s a history that was rarely shared publicly, Taylor explained, and so the stories remain mostly unknown. (read more)
TIPHC Bookshelf
Published scholarship on black history in Texas is growing and we’d like to share with you some suggested readings, both current and past, from some of the preeminent history scholars in Texas and beyond. We invite you to take a look at our bookshelf page — including a featured selection — and check back as the list grows. A different selection will be featured each week. We welcome suggestions and reviews. This week, we offer, “Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War,” by Emmett J. Scott.
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Scott — the former personal secretary to Booker T. Washington — special advisor of black affairs to Secretary of War Newton Baker. Scott wrote reports on conditions facing African Americans during the period, which were published as The American Negro in the World War, Scott’s official history of black soldier’s participation in World War I. The ground-breaking, wide-ranging study covered every aspect of the participation of black soldiers and citizens in the war effort.
In the book’s preface, Scott writes: “The Negro, in the great World War for Freedom and Democracy, has proved to be a notable and inspiring figure. The record and achievements of this racial group, as brave soldiers and loyal citizens, furnish one of the brightest chapters in American history. The ready response of Negro draftees to the Selective Service calls together with the numerous patriotic activities of Negroes generally, gave ample evidence of their whole-souled support and their 100 per cent Americanism. It is difficult to indicate which rendered the greater service to their Country—the 400,000 or more of them who entered active military service (many of whom fearlessly and victoriously fought upon the battlefields of France) or the millions of other loyal members of this race whose useful industry in fields, factories, forests, mines, together with many other indispensable civilian activities, so vitally helped the Federal authorities in carrying the war to a successful conclusion.”
Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing, whose career included commanding black troops, is quoted, “I cannot commend too highly the spirit shown among the colored combat troops, who exhibit fine capacity for quick training and eagerness for the most dangerous work.”
This Week In Texas Black History, Feb. 12-18
13 – On this day in 1873, Emmett J. Scott was born in Houston. Scott was a journalist and administrator who worked for the Houston Post, but in 1894 he founded Houston’s first black newspaper, the Houston Freeman, a weekly newspaper. For many years, Scott was the personal secretary for Booker T. Washington, and during World War I was in charge of Negro affairs as a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of War. That position made Scott the highest ranking black person in President Woodrow Wilson’s administration and led to many changes for black soldiers with many of the issues they faced and the participation of black units in World War I outlined in Scott’s The American Negro in the World War (1919). Among the changes Scott helped to bring about were:
- The continuance of training camps for black officers and the increase in their number and an enlargement of their scope of training.
- Betterment of the general conditions in the camps where blacks are stationed in large numbers, and positive steps taken to reduce race friction to
a minimum wherever soldiers of opposite races are brought into contact. - An increase from four to 60 in the number of black Army chaplains.
- The opening of every branch of the military service to black men, on equal terms with all others, and the commissioning of many black men as
officers in the Medical Corps. - Large increase in the number of black line officers with the total increasing from less than a dozen at the beginning of the war to more than 1,200.
13 – In 1920, on this date, Rube Foster – a native of Calvert, Texas – led the founding of baseball’s first successful all-black league, the Negro National League, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. Foster was league president, as well as manager and player (pitcher) for the Chicago American Giants. He is known as “the father of black baseball.”
15 – Dallas journalist and publicist Fay Jackson was born on this day in 1902. Jackson founded Flash in the late 1920s, the first black news magazine on the West Coast and during the 1930s she became the first black Hollywood correspondent with the Associated Negro Press (ANP). Jackson was also the ANP’s first black foreign correspondent.
17 – On this date, Maud Cuney-Hare, daughter of prominent Texas Republican Norris Wright Cuney, was born on this day in Galveston. Cuney-Hare became a musician, author/folklorist, and music historian after studying piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. She taught music at the Texas Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youths in 1897 and 1898; at the settlement program of the Institutional Church of Chicago during 1900 and 1901; and at Prairie View State College (now Prairie View A&M University), in 1903 and 1904. Her best known work is the groundbreaking book Negro Musicians and Their Music.
18 – On this day in 1941 sprinter and football player Homer Jones was born in Pittsburg, Tx. Jones attended Texas Southern University and participated in both track and football. He was a member of the 1962 U.S. Track team and clocked 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash, .02 behind the great Bob Hayes. Jones was drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1963 but was cut during training camp because of a knee injury, however, he was picked up by the New York Giants. He had a brief, seven-year career, but in 1967 caught 49 passes for 1,209 yards, averaging 24.7 yards per catch, and 13 touchdowns, leading the NFL in receiving touchdowns. For his career, Jones averaged 22.3 yards per catch, leading all receivers with more than 200 receptions.
Blog: Ron Goodwin, author, PVAMU history professor
Ron Goodwin’s bi-weekly blog appears exclusively for TIPHC. Goodwin is a San Antonio native and Air Force veteran. Generally, his column addresses contemporary issues in the black community and how they relate to black history. He and the TIPHC staff welcome your comments.
Read his latest entry, “Bearing His Cross,” here.
Submissions Wanted
Historians, scholars, students, lend us your…writings. Help us produce the most comprehensive documentation ever undertaken for the African American experience in Texas. We encourage you to contribute items about people, places, events, issues, politics/legislation, sports, entertainment, religion, etc., as general entries or essays. Our documentation is wide-ranging and diverse, and you may research and write about the subject of your interest or, to start, please consult our list of suggested biographical entries and see submission guidelines. However, all topics must be approved by TIPHC editors before beginning your research/writing.