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5 Famous Black Cowboys You Should Know About

Black cowboys, or people of African origin who made their mark in the worlds of horsemanship and ranching, became a captivating and notable phenomenon within the annals of American history. These exceptional people broke social norms and overcame difficult situations to succeed in the difficult and dangerous environment of the Old West, despite being frequently eclipsed by the prevalent narratives that focus mostly on white cowboys.

Black cowboys became iconic icons representing resiliency, persistence, and resourcefulness within the complex fabric of the post-Civil War era, a period defined by dramatic societal transformations and the end of slavery. These pioneers, whose ancestors suffered the scars of a deeply unjust system, surpassed the restrictions placed on them by using the power of their heritage.

1. Nat Love

Nat love cowboy.jpg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Nat Love was an American cowboy and writer active following the Civil War. His reported exploits have made him one of the more famous heroes of the Old West. Nat Love was born into slavery on the plantation of Robert Love in Davidson County, Tennessee on June 14, 1854. His father was a slave foreman who worked in the plantation’s fields, and his mother was the manager of its kitchen. Love had two siblings: an older sister, Sally, and an older brother, Jordan.

Love travelled to Dodge City, Kansas, where he found work as a cowboy with cattle drivers from the Duval Ranch (located on the Palo Duro River in the Texas Panhandle). According to his autobiography, Love fought cattle rustlers and endured inclement weather. He trained himself to become an expert marksman and cowboy, earning the moniker Red River Dick from his co-workers.

In 1872, Love moved to Arizona, where he found work at the Gallinger Ranch located along the Gila River. He wrote in his autobiography that he met Pat Garrett, Bat Masterson, Billy the Kid, and others while working the cattle drives in Arizona.

Love left the cowboy life before he married a woman named Alice in 1889 and settled down. They lived in Denver, Colorado initially. He took a job in 1890 as a Pullman porter, which involved overseeing sleeping cars on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. While working for the railroad, he and his family resided in several western states, before finally moving to southern California.

In 1907, Love published his autobiography titled Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as ‘Deadwood Dick,’ by Himself, which greatly enhanced his legacy. Love spent the latter part of his life as a courier and guard for a securities company in Los Angeles. He died there in 1921 at the age of 66.

2. Bill Pickett

Bill Picket jpg., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Willie M. Pickett was an American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor. In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Pickett was born in the Jenks Branch community of Williamson County, Texas, in 1870. He was the second of 13 children born to Thomas Jefferson Pickett, a former enslaved person, and Mary “Janie” Gilbert. Pickett had four brothers and eight sisters. The family’s ancestry was African-American and Cherokee. By 1888, the family had moved to Taylor, Texas.

Pickett left school in the fifth grade to become a ranch hand; he soon began to ride horses and watch the Texas Longhorn steers of his native Texas. In 1905, Pickett joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that featured the likes of Buffalo Bill, Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Bee Ho Gray, and Zach and Lucille Mulhall; he performed under the name “The Dusky Demon.”

Pickett was soon a popular performer who toured around the world and appeared in early motion pictures, such as a movie created by Richard E. Norman. Pickett’s ethnicity resulted in his not being able to appear at many rodeos, so he often was forced to claim that he was of Comanche heritage in order to perform. In 1921, he appeared in the films The Bull-Dogger and The Crimson Skull.

In 1932, after having retired from Wild West shows, Bill Pickett was kicked in the head by a Bronco. After a multi-day coma, he died on April 2, 1932; he was buried on the 101 Ranch. He is buried near a 15-foot stone monument to the friendship of Ponca Tribal Chief White Eagle and the Miller Brothers on Monument Hill, also known as the White Eagle Monument to the locals, less than a quarter of a mile to the northeast of Marland, Oklahoma.

3. John Ware 

John Ware and Family.jpg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

John Ware was a Canadian cowboy who was influential in the early years of the burgeoning ranching industry in Southern Alberta. Remembered for his excellent horsemanship, he was among the first ranchers in Alberta, arriving in 1882 on a cattle drive from the United States and settling on to ranch until his death in 1905.

John Ware was born into slavery, and there is no record of his birth. The historian J. W. Grant MacEwan claimed he was born on a plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina contrary to Ware himself by stating that he was born in Tennessee. After the American Civil War, he left for Texas, where he learned the skills of a rancher and became a cowboy.

Ware then worked his way north to Canada driving cattle from Texas to Montana. In 1882, he was hired to help bring 3,000 head of cattle from the United States to Sir Hugh Allan’s North-West Cattle Co in Alberta. After delivering his charge near Calgary, he found work at the Bar U and Quorn ranches before starting his own ranch near the Red Deer River. By 1900, he and his wife, Mildred Lewis (1871–1905, had five children.

He moved from the Calgary Region to a spot northeast of the village of Duchess, Alberta. In 1902 his first home was destroyed by the spring flood. He rebuilt his home on higher ground overlooking a stream, now called Ware Creek. In the spring of 1905, Mildred died of pneumonia, and despite being a master horseman, John was killed only months later when his horse tripped in a badger hole. The horse crushed its rider in the fall, breaking Ware’s neck. His funeral was reported to be one of the largest held in the early days of Calgary.

Like any other folk hero, there is a wide range of tales about his ability to eat, ride, and shoot, all of which contribute to the cowboy lore of the time. It is said that he was never tossed from a wild horse and that he popularized steer wrestling, which would then become a highlight of the Calgary Stampede.

His story is that of a remarkable figure in history who helped to lay the foundations of the ranching industry in Western Canada and at the same time defied stereotypes. Ware became one of the most well-respected figures on the Albertan frontier and is still an important part of Alberta’s history.

4. Isam Dart

Isom Dart.jpg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Isam Dart, also known as Isom, was a cattle driver, rancher, and horse and cattle rustler in the Wild West during the late nineteenth century. He settled in Browns Park in northeastern Colorado, where he was regarded as a “superlative rider and roper, a good neighbour, and an expert and industrious cattle thief” by his neighbours. He and his partner Mat Rash were gunned down in separate incidents and are thought to have been assassinated by hired gunman Tom Horn.

He was a well-known outlaw, yet he was never convicted. Dart was alleged to have been arrested by a deputy sheriff who drove the two men to jail in a buckboard wagon. The wagon slid off the side of a mountain, injuring the deputy. Dart rescued the deputy, administered first aid, and then turned himself into the sheriff. Dart’s trial featured the deputy as a character witness. Dart was exonerated of his crime as a consequence of his testimony.

Dart caught, broke into, and sold wild horses branded with “I D Bar” in addition to being a cattle rancher and rustler. J.S. Hoy, a cattle rancher, planned to evict the area’s minor ranchers. Dart and two other men were accused of the crime after his ranch was burned and destroyed. Dart was brought to jail on Hahns Peak north of Steamboat Springs, where he awaited the commencement of the trial.

Dart was part of a posse that pursued down persons responsible for the death of a teenager, Willie Strang, in Brown’s Park in 1898. They surrounded the men on a rocky knoll, where Harry Tracy murdered Valentine Hoy.

5. Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley Portrait.jpg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

American sniper Annie Oakley was a featured performer in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West act. Phoebe Ann Mosey, the future Annie Oakley, was born on August 13, 1860, in a log cabin less than 3.2 kilometres northwest of Woodland, now Willowdale, in Darke County, Ohio, a rural area near the Indiana border. 8 miles to the east of North Star is where she was born.

When she was younger, Oakley learned how to hunt so she could help her struggling family in western Ohio. She defeated seasoned marksman Frank E. Butler in a shooting match when she was 15 years old. They eventually wed in 1876. In 1885, the two traveled with Buffalo Bill and gave performances in front of dignitaries in Europe. She shot a cigar into the air, shocking the audience.

After a bad rail accident in 1901, she had to settle for a less taxing routine, and she toured in a play written about her career. She also instructed women in marksmanship, believing strongly in female self-defence. Her stage acts were filmed for one of Thomas Edison’s earliest Kinetoscopes in 1894. Since her death, her story has been adapted for stage musicals and films, including Annie Get Your Gun.