Rodeo celebrates historical accuracy, cowboys of color by Paul D. Matson, sports editor

    Most people have the impression cowboys of the cattle-drive era were disproportionately white. This view has been perpetrated by western movies from the 1940s till the present.

    A few of today’s westerns show one or two minority cowboys tending to everyday chores, but the percentage of cowboys of color is mostly under represented.

    Celebrating its sixth anniversary, Cowboys of Color is the largest, multicultural rodeo in the country, an organization of cowboys working to change this misconception, promoting the “forgotten cowboy.”

    This year’s event was last weekend at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth. Over 300 black, Mexican and Indian Americans competed in traditional rodeo events for cash prizes totaling $25,000.

    Thirty percent of the cowboys, ranch hands and wranglers, of the old west, were minorities.

    Through their exhibitions, the Cowboys of Color hope to educate the public of this vital role as well as to entertain.

    Deats, the black cowhand, portrayed by Danny Glover, in the Lonesome Dove series, was based on a real character, who rode for Charles Goodnight, the legendary Texas rancher.

    The epitaph Captain Call recited over Deats’ grave in the movie was the actual verse carved on the original Deats’ tombstone by Goodnight. This testament of honor lends proof that men of color were held in high esteem in the old west.

    Black men made up several calvary and infantry units for the U.S. military. The Buffalo Soldiers were one of the most decorated regiments of that time.

    These black men received their name from the Indians of the west. The Indians thought the soldiers’ tightly curled hair and fearless fighting resembled traits of the American bison.

    While the infantry built roads and forts, strung telegraph wire and guarded army posts, the calvary patrolled for renegade Indians and watched for Mexican and Anglo bandits.

    Sometimes the Buffalo Soldiers were also assigned to keep the peace between settlers and cattlemen.

    Mexican cowboys (charros) and the American Indian also played major roles in the cattle industry on the western frontier.

    Considered the “most skilled horsemen in the world,” the charros learned their skills on the massive ranches in Mexico following the Spanish conquest.

    The Spanish horsemen were highly respected and always eager to show their talents in competition at fiestas.

    During these fiestas, the Charros in their highly decorated costumes exhibited their prized horses, silver embellished bridles and decorated saddles.

    Blacks and some Seminole Indians rode together through Texas and took up residence in Coahuila, Mexico.

    Approximately 100 blacks joined the Seminoles and Kickapoos, riding under the command of John Horse, the son of a black mother and an Indian father, to fight in campaigns against the Mescalero and Comanche Indians.

    Cowboys of color proved extremely valuable in helping to settle and tame the old west, but their stories are just beginning to be told.

   By educating the public of the deeds of their ancestors, the current Cowboys of Color hope to secure their predecessors’ rightful place in western history.