Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter highlights the long history of Texas' Black cowboy culture
Getty ImagesAnyone confused about Beyoncé's newest foray into the country genre has only to visit her home state of Texas to learn about Black Cowboy culture.
Anyone confused about Beyoncé's newest foray into country music need only visit her home state of Texas to get a clearer understanding of the link between the pop star and the country and western vibe of her new album, Cowboy Carter. Though Beyonce herself has said: "This ain't a country album… it's a Beyoncé album," it clearly draws from many sources, including the long history of Black country music and Black cowboy culture.
Texas – and the singer's hometown of Houston, in particular – has long been associated with cowboys. The city, which hosts one of the largest rodeos in the world, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, has undeniable cowboy credentials, as does the African American community in Texas and the greater American West. However, for a long time, the image of the cowboy has largely had a white face.
"I think that there are these narratives about what America is, and that's always been coded as white," said Francesca Royster, a professor of English and Critical Ethnic Studies at DePaul University and the author of the book Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions. "The cowboy has been this heroic image to justify Western expansion, and it just seems necessary to make that figure white, even though there were always Black cowboys."
Getty ImagesMany people are not aware of how deep cowboy culture runs in the Black community, both historically and today. Beginning in the early 1800s, one out of every four cowboys was Black and horsemanship was an important part of many African American communities well into the 1950s. Even rodeo steer wrestling, known as "bulldogging", a technique where a bull is wrestled to the ground using its horns for leverage, was invented by a Black cowboy named Bill Pickett. He was the first African American man to be inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame.
"I hope it will change things." Royster said, referring to how Beyoncé's dive into the country genre. "Thinking about Beyoncé's Instagram post where she talked about feeling unwelcome in country music spaces. As someone who's been studying Black country music, that to me was a familiar refrain. But I really feel like things are moving fast in terms of changing the culture around country music for diverse listeners and audiences as well as performers."
In recent years other musicians from Lil Nas X to Blanco Brown have delved into the genre, and their successes have served to highlight the work of musicians like banjo player Rhiannon Giddens and singer-songwriter Brittany Spencer, who have been playing with the genre for years, and are featured on Cowboy Carter. And now, the Texas Hold 'Em singer, who has made history as the only Black woman to be at the top of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, is the latest to carry the torch forward.
Alamy"There's a welcome home happening, and it's for everyone," said actor and Black cowboy Brandon Alexander, about the new visibility of Black country music and cowboy culture. "Whether you get on a horse or you wear the boots or you don't, this is a welcome home. This is a reconnection. This is a, 'we're not forgotten'. This is a 'we helped to shape America, we helped to shape the West'. It wasn't just the John Waynes and the Clint Eastwoods. They were there, but we were also there. So don't forget our stories."
The best way to honour these stories is to learn about them first hand on a visit to Texas. Here are some ways to experience the history and present-day of the state's Black cowboy culture that led, at least in part, to the creation of Cowboy Carter.
AlamyExploring Texas' cowboy culture
Every year since 1957, the Prairie View Trail Riders Association, named for the historically Black college Prairie View A&M University, have done a trail ride from Hempstead, Texas, to Houston to attend the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. This ride, which visitors can view from Memorial Park in Houston, serves to raise awareness of both the history and the continued existence of Black cowboys and cowgirls. The rodeo itself also hosts a Black Heritage Day every year.
Just outside of Houston, in nearby Rosenburg, Texas, historian and cowboy Larry Callies started the Black Cowboy Museum in 2017 to uncover and preserve the important but little-known history of Black cowboys. In addition to the historical exhibitions available there, the museum also offers opportunities for those interested in continuing cowboy traditions by offering bull-riding classes and hosting an annual Hall of Fame ceremony to honour those Black cowboys still making history in the saddle today.
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There are also plenty of opportunities to use these skills, or just view them, at Black rodeos in Texas and across the country, including the Texas Black Invitational Rodeo in Dallas, put on by the city's African American Museum, and the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, which travels across the country and is now celebrating its 40th year.
Alexander emphasized the welcoming nature of Black rodeos for anyone visiting for the first time: "If you haven't been [to a rodeo], get your boots, get your hat, get whoever you want to go [with] and head out. Sing in unison with everybody when they play a song that we all know, go grab yourself something nice to drink. You will hear some of the most amazing stories from complete strangers."
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