Cowboys of Color said one in every four cowboys in the nation is Black.
RED OAK, Texas — There is an old saying that seeing is believing — and Wendell Hearn, a second-generation cowboy, has seen Black cowboys his whole life.
Hearn said he followed his father Cleo, who is a National Cowboy Hall of Famer and founder of Cowboys of Color, the largest multicultural rodeo in the world.
“There’s Black cowboys, Native Americans and Hispanics,” Hearn said. “That’s why he started the Cowboys of Color to embrace all cultures that are part of the West,” Hearn said.
He said these cultures have long been excluded from Western stories.
“Black cowboys have been around since the start of the West,” Hearn explained. “One of the jobs for the slaves was actually working with the cows. That’s kind of where they say the name cowboy comes from.”
Hearn believes the exposure to Black cowboys starts with education as he said one …