The Hidden Legacy of Black Cowboys

What if I told you that nearly one in three cowboys in the Wild West… was Black?

Yeah. Hollywood lied. While movies showed only white sheriffs and gun-slingers,

real American cowboy culture was built by freed Africans, former Buffalo Soldiers, and West African

cattlemen who already had centuries of herding expertise. They created techniques, rope skills,

and cattle drives that the world now calls “Western.” Names like Bill Pickett,

Nat Love, and Bass Reeves — the real Lone Ranger — were legends. But when America

started building Western mythology, they erased every Black face from the story.

So next time they talk about the Wild West… Tell them the West was African before