I’ve known that there were many blacks who lived and worked in the American West during the 1800s. What I didn’t know until very recently was the huge percentage. I was surprised to learn that estimates of twenty-five to thirty-three percent of all western cowboys were black.

Last month, NBC Nightly News ran a piece about a modern-day black rodeo circuit. An organization founded in the ’80s and named after the black cowboy, Bill Pickett, who is credited with inventing the cowboy technique called, bulldogging.

Other famous African American cowboys you may want to research include Nat Love, Bose Ikard, Addison Jones, Stagecoach Mary Fields, and Bob Lemmons.