The History Of Black Cowboy Fashion

 

While the release of Beyonce’s niche-busting album of the year “Cowboy Carter” drummed up fanfare around Black cowboy fashion, the culture around wide-brimmed hats, denim, pointed-toe leather boots, and ass-less chaps runs as deep as this country’s history.

Black cowboys were crucial in building 19th-century wealth for white Texan southerners. In the early 1800s, Texas was still Mexican-ruled territory, but white Americans migrated West, seeking affordable land to settle and establish cotton farms and cattle ranches. Even though slavery was illegal in Mexico, Southern whites brought their slaves with them anyway. By 1825, slaves made up 25 percent of Texas’ population, according to The Smithsonian. Texas entered into U.S. statehood at the end of 1845.

As the civil war ripped the country at its seams from 1861 to 1865, white Texans left their land to fight for the confederate South. Black slave hands were left behind to handle and maintain the cattle-herding. The work was gritty, and included duties like breaking in horses (training wild horses to be ridden), lassoing-up herds, and transporting cattle through unforgiving terrain. Even though Black Americans were freed when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law in 1863, White settlers, unwilling to give up the free labor that sustained their businesses, didn’t enforce the legislation. Two years later, on June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger informed 250,000 Texans who were still enslaved that they were free, which is the day we now celebrate as Juneteenth. As former white slave owners scrambled to maintain their land and livestock without the help of forced, unpaid laborers, skilled Black cowboys were in high job demand. Historians estimate 1 in 4 cowboys were Black, and even though their influence has often been discredited by mainstream culture, music artists have rode alongside them to keep their legacy alive.

Music And Fashion Of The South 

Black cowboy fashion penetrated mainstream culture as big Southern stars gained popularity in America in the 20th century. Georgia-born Ray Charles rocked a cowboy hat during performances of his country songs, The Guardian reports, and other iconic artists, like Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield, accompanied their music with cowboy stylings. The video for The Gap Band’s single, “Burn Rubber On Me,” featured the group in denim and cowboy hats.

In 2001, while promoting their highly anticipated comeback album Survivor in New York City,  Destiny’s Child rocked cobalt blue, tasseled midriff-bearing bralettes, accented with sparkling silver cowboy hats with matching boots (pre-Renaissance era). The women stood strongly together as a newly formed trio, and they let their music and fashion choices do the talking: not only were they still standing, but they were also still insanely talented, country, and Texas AF.

Fast forward, Beyonce’s solo career has continued to be an extension of her Texas roots, with Cowboy Carter triggering an emergence of cowboy fashion into the Black cultural zeitgeist. Hip-hop artists, like Swae Lee, are known to don steel-toe boots during rap performances, and Lil Nas X’s hip-hop, country, genre-blending hit,  “Old Town Road” had the whole world rocking gallon-hats with pride.

Beyonce’s upcoming, highly-anticipated Cowboy Carter tour is sure to set off another wave of cowboy fashion obsession, as thousands of fans flock to stadiums all over America in their country’s best. Their fits, whether it’s a white-fringed blouse or a bold-buckled brown-leather belt, are a symbolic bow to the past.

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