The Black Cowboys: An American History exhibit opens this weekend at the Dallas African American Museum.

Over the next few months, part of the second floor African American Museum of Dallas will be home to Black Cowboys: An American History, which chronicles the history of black cowboys in Texas and across the country.

The free exhibition features photographs, artefacts, documents and films that provide insight into the untold stories of black men, women and children, enslaved and free, who worked on ranches and took part in cattle drives.

Marvin Dulaney, Ph.D., associate director and chief operating officer of the African American Museum in Dallas, said he wants visitors to leave with new knowledge about the contributions of black cowboys in the pre-Civil War era and at the turn of the 20th century.

“I want them to understand that African Americans participated in the life of the Wild West. That they were cowboys, that they herded cattle, that they were ranchers and did everything that mythology teaches us about how to be cowboys, ”Dulaney said.

Dulaney, who has taught African American history at the university level for more than 40 years, explained that many do not know about this past.

“I hope people get a bigger and fuller picture of what the ‘Old West’ as they call it was, basically I think of the bigger picture that African Americans were involved in every aspect of American history, we don’t” I just show up after 1865,” Dulany said.

One of the exhibits includes a film about Hector Basie, who was born a slave and became a cowboy after his release. Portrayed by an actor, his 1910 autobiography details the excitement and dangers of a cowboy’s life.

The exhibit details how people trained their horses, cared for their cattle, and helped build the Texas economy. It also shows how black cowboys set up their own ranches after Emancipation.

In another room, there are black cowboys who were in rodeos, music, and movies but didn’t make it to the big screens back then.

“You can see the images, you can watch the movie, you can learn a lot about people like Herb Jeffries, who made this movie in the 1940s called Prairie Harlem, looking at the history of black cowboys,” Dulaney explained. “You know, we have John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Clint Eastwood, and you know, they are these six-shooter heroes who kill people and ride horses. Well, African Americans do it too.”

The exhibition will run until April 15 and is open Tuesday to Friday from 11:00 to 17:00 and on Saturdays from 10:00 to 17:00.

The Dallas African American Museum is located in Fair Park at 3536 Grand Ave., Dallas.

ONLINE: To learn more Click here.

The touring exhibition was organized by the Witte Museum in San Antonio and was sponsored by Bank of America and Oncor.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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