I grew up in Southern California’s High Desert, home of renowned Hollywood cowboy Roy Rogers. I loved the expansiveness of the desert, which meant there was space for animals like horses, but I never felt a connection to cowboys.
Little did I know then that, historically, one in every four cowboys was Black. How could I know— how could any of us know—when the prevailing depiction of cowboys was white? White, male, violent, and ruggedly independent.
The Compton Cowboys are an exception to these stereotypes. Groups like theirs, in Compton, Calif., and the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club in Philadelphia have been riding in their cities for decades, representing a tradition that goes back to the times of the so-called American frontier. Watching videos of these Black cowboys, I saw a lot of cowboy hats, but aside from that, the cowboys looked just like people I knew. I loved seeing them bring joy to their communities just by existing.
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