Editing Cowboy (section)

==Culture==

===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]]

===Social world===
Over time, the cowboys of the [[American West]] developed a personal culture of their own, a blend of [[frontier]] and [[Victorian era|Victorian]] values that even retained vestiges of [[chivalry]]. Such hazardous work in isolated conditions also bred a tradition of self-dependence and [[individualism]], with great value put on personal honesty, exemplified in [[List of famous Cowboy songs|songs]] and [[cowboy poetry|poetry]].<ref name=CattleKings241>Atherton, Lewis ''The Cattle Kings'', Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press 1961 {{ISBN|0-8032-5759-7}} pp. 241–262.</ref> The cowboy often worked in an all-male environment, particularly on [[Cattle drives in the United States|cattle drives]], and in the frontier west, men often significantly outnumbered women.<ref name=Wilke/>

Some men were attracted to the frontier by other men.<ref>John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman; ''Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America''; {{ISBN|9780226923802}} Page needed.</ref> At times, in a region where men outnumbered women, even social events normally attended by both sexes were at times all male, and men could be found partnering up with one another for dances.<ref name=Wilke>Wilke, Jim. "Frontier Comrades: homosexuality in the America West". pp. 164–172; ''Out In All Directions: The Almanac of Gay and Lesbian America''; Edited by Lynn Witt, Sherry Thomas and Eric Marcus; New York: Warner Books; 1995; p. 635 {{ISBN|9780756775520}}</ref> [[Homosexual]] acts between young, unmarried men occurred, but cowboys culture itself was and remains deeply homophobic. Though anti-sodomy laws were common in the Old West, they often were only selectively enforced.<ref>Garceau, Dee. "Nomads, Bunkies, Cross-dressers, and Family Men: cowboy identity and the gendering of ranch work". p. 149–168; ''Across the Great Divide: Cultures of Manhood in the American West''; Edited by Matthew Basso, Laura McCall, and Dee Garceau; New York: [[Routledge]]; 2001; p. 308; {{ISBN|978-0415924702}}</ref>

===Popular image===
[[File:Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the 61st Academy Awards.jpg|thumb|Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989]]
{{See also|Western lifestyle}}

[[Heather Cox Richardson]] argues for a political dimension to the original cowboy image in the 1870s and 1880s:<ref>Heather Cox Richardson ''To make men free: A history of the Republican party (2014) p. 77</ref><blockquote>The timing of the cattle industry's growth meant that cowboy imagery grew to have extraordinary power. Entangled in the vicious politics of the postwar years, Democrats, especially those in the old Confederacy, imagined the West as a land untouched by Republican politicians they hated. They developed an image of the cowboys as men who worked hard, played hard, lived by a code of honor, protected themselves, and asked nothing of the government. In the hands of Democratic newspaper editors, the realities of cowboy life -- the poverty, the danger, the debilitating hours -- became romantic. Cowboys embodied virtues Democrats believed Republicans were destroying by creating a behemoth government catering to lazy ex-slaves. By the 1860s, cattle drives were a feature of the plains landscape, and Democrats had made cowboys a symbol of rugged individual independence, something they insisted Republicans were destroying. </blockquote>

The traditions of the working cowboy were further etched into the minds of the general public with the development of [[Wild West Show|Wild West show]]s in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcased and romanticized the life of both cowboys and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref>Malone, J., p. 82.</ref> Beginning in the 1920s and continuing to the present day, [[Western movie|Western film]]s popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent [[stereotype]]s. In some cases, the cowboy and the violent [[gunslinger]] are often associated with one another. On the other hand, some actors who portrayed cowboys promoted other values, such as the "cowboy code" of [[Gene Autry]], that encouraged honorable behavior, respect and patriotism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gene Autry: Gene Autry's Cowboy Code |url=http://geneautry.com/geneautry/geneautry_cowboycode.html |publisher=The Official Website for Gene Autry |access-date=July 27, 2019 |archive-date=September 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917062349/http://www.geneautry.com/geneautry/geneautry_cowboycode.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Historian Robert K. DeArment draws a connection between the popularized Western code and the stereotypical rowdy cowboy image to that of the "subculture of violence" of drovers in Old West Texas that was influenced itself by the Southern [[Code duello#Western US code duello|code duello]].<ref>DeArment, Robert K. ''Deadly Dozen: Forgotten Gunfighters of the Old West, Volume 3''. University of Oklahoma Press; First edition (March 15, 2010). c. Introduction. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-4076-6}}</ref>

Likewise, cowboys in movies were often shown fighting with [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]]. Most armed conflicts occurred between Native people and [[cavalry]] units of the [[U.S. Army]].  Relations between cowboys and Native Americans were varied but were generally unfriendly.<ref name="Malone, J., p. 42"/><ref name="Carter">Carter, Sarah, ''Cowboys, Ranchers and the Cattle Business: Cross-Border Perspectives on Ranching History'', University Press of Colorado (2000) p.&nbsp;95. {{ISBN|978-1-55238-019-2}}</ref> Native people usually allowed cattle herds to pass through for a toll of ten cents a head but raided cattle drives and ranches in times of active white-Native conflict or food shortages. In the 1860s, for example, the [[Texas-Indian wars#Indian attacks on cowboys|Comanche created problems]] in Western Texas.<ref name="Lewis">Lewis, Mary C. ''Ebony Jr., Black Settlers of the Old West''. Johnson Publication. May 1984 . pp. 18–19</ref> Similar attacks also occurred with the [[Empire Ranch#Apaches|Apache]], [[Colorado War#Indian retaliation|Cheyenne]] and [[Ute Wars#Wars|Ute]] Indians.<ref>Michno, Gregory. ''Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes, 1850–1890''. Mountain Press Publishing Company (August 10, 2003). pp. 160–180. {{ISBN|978-0-87842-468-9}}</ref> Cowboys were armed against both predators and human thieves, and often used their guns to drive away people of any race who attempted to [[Cattle raiding|rustle]] cattle.

In reality, working ranch hands past and present had very little time for anything other than the constant hard work involved in maintaining a ranch.