Editing Cowboy (section)

===Ethnicity===
[[File:Indian students branding cattle.png|thumb|Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho youths learning to brand cattle at the Seger Indian School, Oklahoma Territory, ca. 1900]]
American cowboys were drawn from multiple sources. By the late 1860s, following the [[American Civil War]] and the expansion of the cattle industry, former soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy came west, seeking work, as did large numbers of restless white men in general.<ref>Malone, J., p. 7.</ref> A significant number of [[African-American]] [[freedmen]] also were drawn to cowboy life, in part because there was not quite as much racial discrimination in the [[Western United States|West]] as in other areas of American society at the time.<ref>Malone, J., p. 8.</ref> A significant number of Mexicans and [[American Indians in the United States|American Indians]] already living in the region also worked as cowboys.<ref name="Malone48">Malone, J., p. 48.</ref> Later, particularly after 1890, when American policy promoted "assimilation" of Indian people, some Indian boarding schools also taught ranching skills. Today, some Native Americans in the [[western United States]] own cattle and small ranches, and many are still employed as cowboys, especially on ranches located near [[Indian reservation]]s. The "Indian Cowboy" is also part of the [[rodeo]] circuit.

Because cowboys ranked low in the [[social structure]] of the period, there are no firm figures on the actual proportion of various races. One writer states that cowboys were "of two classes—those recruited from Texas and other States on the eastern slope; and Mexicans, from the south-western region".<ref>Ambulo, John. "The Cattle on a Thousand Hills" ''The Overland Monthly'' March 1887.</ref> [[Census]] records suggest that about 15% of all cowboys were of African-American ancestry—ranging from about 25% on the trail drives out of Texas, to very few in the northwest. Similarly, cowboys of Mexican descent also averaged about 15% of the total, but were more common in Texas and the southwest. Some estimates suggest that in the late 19th century, one out of every three cowboys was a Mexican vaquero, and 20% may have been African-American.<ref name=Geographic/> Other estimates place the number of African-American cowboys as high as 25 percent.<ref name="Nodjimbadem">{{cite web |last1=Nodjimbadem |first1=Katie |title=The Lesser-Known History of African-American Cowboys |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesser-known-history-african-american-cowboys-180962144/ |website=Smithsonian |access-date=6 July 2019 |language=en |date=February 13, 2017}}</ref>

Regardless of ethnicity, most cowboys came from lower social classes and the pay was poor. The average cowboy earned approximately a dollar a day, plus food, and, when near the home ranch, a bed in the [[bunkhouse]], usually a [[barracks]]-like building with a single open room.<ref>Malone, J., p. 27.</ref>

[[File:Cowboys Shooting Craps (NYPL b12647398-68227).tiff|thumb|Cowboys playing a [[craps]] game]]