The paintings on this website have been done for the purpose of helping to preserve the rich histories of the cowboys of color who settled onto the Western frontiers of the USA. I’ve chosen to pay tribute through these original oil paintings of cowboys which I hope help illustrate their strength, pride, bravery, resilience, and innate abilities to survive the times. Depictions are from cowboys of today, and from the past.

 

Because of the involvement of approximately 180,000 Black soldiers during the Civil War, in 1866 Congress authorized six black infantry regiments and two cavalry units.  Black soldiers served in Texas, the Southwest, and the Great Plains. After the American Civil War many black cowboys and former plantation slaves enlisted in the army cavalry and were known as Buffalo Soldiers.  Once they left the military they stayed in the Western territories and became ranch hands or cowboys.  It is written that one of every three cowboys was an African American or Mexican working the cattle drives.  Over 5,000 cowboys served the cattle drive era, not to include the numerous Black Cowboys working as Buffalo Soldiers or the many other areas that tamed, protected, built and civilized the Western states.

 

I’ve mainly painted in oils with a pallet knife for this Series, with the intent that my style of painting would hopefully lend itself to your feeling/identifying with the rustic lives and times of cowboys in general and cowboys of color, from the rodeos to the ranches and ranges.  

 

After watching a CNN World’s documentary “The Forgotten Cowboys” (2012), I was motivated by discovering the story of photographer, John Ferguson of the UK and his desire to document some of the cowboys of today.  He stated, “As a ten-year-old boy playing cowboys with friends at school in England, I was never allowed to be a cowboy; I could only be a Native American Indian.  I was told: “Black boys were never cowboys” or “Have you ever seen a black cowboy?” I had to admit that I had never seen a black cowboy John stated.  CNN documented some of his pictorial photo discoveries and also reported that at least 1 in 4 cowboys in the old West were African American.  Noting that cowboys of color had been ignored for years, I felt as an artist, that I owed these heroes of color, today and of yesterdays, portrayals and faces.  And, certainly children of color deserve to see and know the truth. I wanted to give faces to these unspoken survivors, heroes of the past.  Thus, I’m now providing, visual documentations, legacies in the form of paintings in oils.  Hopefully, in the future, these historical oil depictions will show themselves worthy of a place in your home and business, in exhibits and showings, and eventually a permanent place in museums.

 

I believe artists (literary & visual), if possible, should never allow there to be undocumented/unspoken of histories.  It is important to document those who have survived against the odds.  Unless otherwise noted, all paintings on this site are fictional, and are the original compositions of the artist.  Enjoy the website.  It is our desire to not only make it visually enjoyable…but, we’ll constantly be adding educational bullets also as the website is further developed.

 

Sincerely,  

Bev Jenai, Artist