Black Cowboys of the Old West True, Sensational, And Little-Known Stories From History

The wordcowboyconjures up vivid images of rugged men on saddled horsesmen lassoing cattle, riding bulls, or brandishing guns in a shoot-out.Whitemen, as Hollywood remembers them. What is woefully missing from these scenes is their counterparts: the black cowboys who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and rodeo riders. This book tells their story. When the Civil War ended, black men left the Old South in large numbers to seek a living in the Old Westindustrious men resolved to carve out a life for themselves on the wild, roaming plains. Some had experience working cattle from their time as slaves; others simply sought a freedom they had never known before. The lucky travelled on horseback; the rest, by foot. Over dirt roads they went from Alabama and South Carolina to present-day Texas and California up north through Kansas to Montana. The Old West was a land of opportunity for these adventurous wranglers and future rodeo champions. A long overdue testament to the courage and skill of black cowboys,Black Cowboys of the Old Westfinally gives these courageous men their rightful place in history. Tricia Martineau Wagneris the author ofAfrican American Women of the Old West, It Happened on the Underground Railroad,andIt Happened on the Oregon Trail(all TwoDot). A longtime resident of Chicago and San Francisco, she currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Praise for an earlier book by the same author: "Whether you are a history enthusiast or a lover of adventure stories,African American Women of the Old Westpresents the reader with fascinating accounts of ten extraordinary, generally unrecognized, African Americans. Tricia Martineau Wagner takes these remarkable women from the footnotes of history and brings them to life." Ed Diaz, President of the Association for African American Historical Research and Preservation