Controlling the Reins

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Black cowboys prepare to take control as they go about their daily lives, in ways that are skilled and sometimes subtle. Their bodies and the reins are their tools for control. The checklist of assurances the Black cowboy runs through as if it were second nature: securing the bit in the horse’s mouth for comfort and safety, fastening the flank cinch, setting the saddle on the horse’s back, checking the evenness of the stirrups. The rhythm he develops to gather momentum to mount his horse before resuming his checklist by inspecting the evenness of his reins. All is in preparation for leading and guiding a once wild, now gentle, animal to rope, herd, or ride.

The cowboy has traditionally served as a border guard between rural and urban America. To do this, he asserted masculine control over his social and natural environments. Black men in the United States have had limited control over their movement and mobility, but their willingness or pride in preparing to be in control has never fallen short. From 2012 to 2014, I researched Black-owned ranches and rodeos and spent time with Black cowboys to learn how they understand the role of Black men, masculinity, and manhood in country-western culture.

There are three African American men and one African American boy working together to herd a calf into a gray metal round pen with dry grass on the ground. A light skinned African American cowboy wearing a blue jean button down shirt and blue jean pants along with brown cowboy boots sits astride a brown horse facing towards the two other men and the boy. His right hand holds the reins, controlling the horse, while his left-hand rests on his hip and holds a braided rope that drags on the ground as he holds the reins with his right hand. In the opening of the round metal pen, there are two African American cowboys standing together. In the photograph, one of the cowboys is wearing a tan cowboy hat, a maroon flannel button down shirt, blue jeans, and brown cowboy boots. Squatting down, he is guiding the brown calf into the round pen with his left foot and left hand, while his right leg is planted behind the calf and his right hand is on the calf’s behind pushing it into the round pen. A second African American cowboy, wearing a tan cowboy hat, a sleeveless green button-down shirt, and blue cowboy jeans, holds the metal gate to the round pen open with his right hand while looking down at the other cowboy pushing the calf into the pen. Observing the two cowboys working to usher the calf into the round-pen is an African American boy of about 12 years old wearing a purple and gray striped flannel shirt, blue jeans, and brown boots sitting on a brown horse, holding the reins, and looking down at the two cowboys.

Credit: MYESHA BABERS

The pride in a Black cowboy’s posture when he is secure in the saddle and in command of his ranch’s operation is undeniable. He enlists the help of his friends to herd cows and calves into the round pen, a ritual process for controlling the animals’ freedom to roam and preparing to castrate the young bulls. The look of control can also take the form of attentiveness and care. I see the subtle shifts in the Black cowboy’s ability to get, be, and maintain control of his environment in a way that is beautifully methodical. When the job calls for reuniting a lamb with its nursing mother and twin by gently walking it on horseback. When the job involves taming a wild horse by making the animal gentle enough to be ridden by a novice or small child.

There is a cloudless sky and various heights of trees in the background of a light-skinned African-American cowboy on horseback riding a brown horse. In front of him, he has a gray baby lamb lying horizontally across horseback. The cowboy and horse are facing away from the camera as they ride toward Black cattle in the distance.

Credit: MYESHA BABERS

Left-side profile of an African American man wearing a tan cowboy hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeved button-down shirt and blue jeans, riding on a gray horse. On the left side of the picture are stripes of red and white from the American flag.

Credit: MYESHA BABERS

In the rodeo, Black cowboys pay the same attention to their preparation and execution of control as they do when roping calves on a farm or ranch. The goal of this timed rodeo event is to rope and immobilize a steer. A cowboy at a feed store in Houston invited me to watch him and his buddies practice calf roping at a barn across the street. When one cowboy releases a calf into the area where he is caught between two cowboys, it then takes meticulous teamwork, coordination, and cooperation to control which way it runs. One cowboy is on the ground, directly in front of a baby calf weighing at least 215 pounds and running from another cowboy who is chasing it on horseback. They must work together for the mounted cowboy to rope the steer, dismount from the horse, and tie the steer by its hooves. But there is no cowboy on the ground in the rodeo; the magic lies in the partnership between a man and his horse.

There is a team of two brown horses wearing black leather blinders hitched to a covered wagon facing the camera. The United States flag can be seen on the left of the wagon driver. The Texas State flag is displayed on the right side of the wagon driver. The wagon driver is brown-skinned African American man wearing a black cowboy hat with white long-sleeved button-down shirt with yellow shirt underneath, blue jeans and orange-brown cowboy boots. There is another man wearing a tan cowboy hat and blue jeans standing next to the horse on the left. He is adjusting the horse’s harness for comfort, fit, and safety.

On a trial ride, a Black cowboy takes the reins of a covered wagon, pulled by one horse or a team of horses. On either side of the wagon an American flag and a Texas state flag are displayed with pride. This Black cowboy is a vision of dignity for Black American masculinity. He has traditionally commanded the vehicle used by rural Black people moving to urban areas during the Great Migration with his family and culture of Black western folklife in tow. Of course, today, this can be read as a reenactment, but I see elements of this Black western past riding alongside representations of what this new Black cowboy looks like when he is cultivated in the city. 

A tan horse wearing cloth blinders is hitched to a blue metal cart with a shelf containing a white plastic cooler. A dark-skinned African American man holds a cigar between his teeth as he sits on a gray bench cushion tied to the driver’s metal seat wearing a white tank top and blue jeans shorts. They are traveling on a city street.

Credit: MYESHA BABERS

Black aesthetic creativity would have us consider a makeshift two-seater wagon on two wheels with a large white cooler in tow, hitched to a horse controlled by a Black cowboy wearing blue jean shorts, a white tank top, baseball cap, and sunglasses, holding a cigar―not the traditional cowboy uniform worn for the practical purposes of work on the farm or ranch. Yet there is a similar posture of confidence in his control over the wagon, his horse, and his ability to dictate his direction on the road.

A dark-skinned African American cowboy wearing a gray t-shirt, blue jean pants and brown cowboy boots rides leaning forward on a black horse toward a red clay-colored calf running toward the picture left from him; left hand holds the reins while right hand swings a rope tied in the loop over his head. There is a Black man standing in a squat position facing the calf on the left side of the picture wearing a dusty white tee shirt, blue jeans, and brown cowboy boots. Both of his arms are extended towards the calf. The ground is covered with brown dirt, while tall lush green trees line the background.

Credit: MYESHA BABERS

To talk with, rope with, and ride with Black cowboys is to experience immense skill and see an expression of Black masculinity at work. The images I took convey this gender performance and a care, playfulness, creativity, and artful control that bind traditional and modern practices.