Black Cowboys: The Real Riders of the West

Описание: Black Cowboys: The Real Riders of the West

You thought the Wild West was whitewashed?
That’s because it was.

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They helped tame the frontier.
Drove cattle across thousands of miles.
Trained horses, fought bandits, and protected land.

But Hollywood left them out.

After the Civil War, thousands of formerly enslaved Black men found work on ranches across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and beyond.
They became herders, wranglers, and scouts — but were called “cow boys” as a way to demean them.

White men doing the same job were called cattlemen or wranglers.

The term “cowboy” stuck — and the image was stolen, flipped, and sold back to the world with white faces and silver screens.

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📌 The Truth They Hid:
    •    Historians estimate 1 in every 4 cowboys was Black
    •    Many were military veterans, freedmen, or the sons of enslaved workers
    •    Their stories inspired real legends:
    •    Bass Reeves – U.S. Marshal who arrested 3,000+ fugitives (and inspired the Lone Ranger)
    •    Nat Love – a formerly enslaved man turned famous rodeo cowboy
    •    Bose Ikard – rode with Charles Goodnight and helped chart cattle trails

Yet these names were erased from film and textbooks for decades.

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🎥 What Hollywood Did:
    •    Cast nearly all cowboys as white heroes
    •    Ignored or erased Black, Mexican, and Native contributions
    •    Sold a fantasy while burying the facts

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Black cowboys weren’t side characters.
They were the backbone of the West.

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📚 Verified Sources:
    •    Black Cowboys in the American West by Bruce A. Glasrud
    •    Smithsonian: The Forgotten Black Cowboys Who Rode the Trail
    •    National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
    •    “They Came to Slay” – History Channel Documentary
    •    PBS: The Black West

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🎙️ Blackout History
Because every myth has a truth they tried to bury.

#BlackoutHistory #BlackCowboys #BassReeves #RealAmericanHistory #TheyNeverTaughtUs #FacelessFacts #CowboyTruth #HiddenHistory #BlackExcellence #AmericanWest #HollywoodLies #UncoverTruth