The Forgotten Cowboys and Cowgirls: 10 Photos of Black Americans in Cowboy Culture

Photographer John Ferguson, set out to chronicle the oft overlooked lives and culture of the black American cowboy in photos as a part of his documentary, The Forgotten Cowboy. Ferguson traveled through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and back down to Texas to film and photograph black cattlemen, professional male and female bull riders and cowboys working in local communities.

Ferguson states, “It is estimated that as many as a third of all cowboys contracted to drive cattle to markets across America were either black or Indian.”

“Many black cowboys from communities across the US were banned from competing at the main rodeos right until the late 1980’s,” stated Ferguson.

Watch the Trailer for Ferguson’s upcoming documentary which documents the life of the black American cowboy.

The film seeks to address the “underrepresentation of black cowboys and cowgirls in the mass media, despite African-Americans accounting for roughly 25 percent of all cowboys throughout the profession’s history.”

“These are things that, if you don’t know, they go on unseen,” Kevin Woodson, a retired bullfighter and MC of the Cowboys of Colour Rodeo, said in our films trailer. “You’ll have black people that believe, ‘that’s odd for us to do.’ No it wasn’t.”