Restoring Black Cowboys to the Range

At the Black Cowboy Museum in a storefront near Houston, one man celebrates the lives of African-Americans in the West’s most iconic role.

By Sarah Maslin Nir
Published Sept. 14, 2019
Updated Sept. 15, 2019

A pack of red cattle dogs bayed with excitement as Larry Callies drove his pickup truck down a Rosenberg, Tex., ranch road one morning. He pulled up to the barn and stepped a booted foot from the cab to the dirt, and the dogs keened even more wildly, eager to get out on the range: The dogs knew a cowboy when they saw one.

But not everyone sees a cowboy when they look at Mr. Callies. Though he is inevitably dressed in Wranglers, a 10-gallon Stetson and cowboy boots, driving a pickup with a bed full of lassos around this small city about 35 miles southwest of Houston where he lives, racism and history’s omissions have meant that for many he’s miscast: Mr. Callies is black.

And for most of his adult life, some part of Mr. Callies wondered what part people who looked like him had played in the American West; he was unaware of its rich legacy of black cowboys. Until one rainy day about two decades ago, cleaning out a barn at a guest ranch where he worked, he came across an antique photo from 1880s. In it eight cowboys sat astride eight horses.

Seven are black cowboys.



Mr. Callies used his life savings to open the museum in 2017. CreditMichael Starghill Jr. for The New York Times

That photo is now the centerpiece of The Black Cowboy Museum, a gallery wedged between storefronts in a little mall a few blocks off Rosenberg’s main drag. I arrived on a damp morning after touching down in Houston about an hour earlier, piloting my rental car through the historic downtown, a few blocks of which preserve a frontier-town past. Vintage pinafores fluttered in antique shop windows; on a corner, servers shook up milkshakes at a soda fountain called Another Time. About a block past Bob’s Taco Station, a joint made famous by an appearance on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” I found Mr. Callies waiting in the doorway of his museum.
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If you go:
The Black Cowboy Museum is at 1104 3rd Street, Rosenberg, Tex. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., most days, but it is best to call in advance (281) 787-3308. Mr. Callies offers tours by appointment at almost any time.

Admission: Adults: $7 | Seniors (62+): $5 Children (ages 5 to 15): $5 Children under 5 are free. blackcowboymuseum.org
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Sarah Maslin Nir covers breaking news for the Metro section. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her series “Unvarnished,” an investigation into New York City’s nail salon industry that documented the exploitative labor practices and health issues manicurists face. @SarahMaslinNir

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 15, 2019, Section TR, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Restoring Black Cowboys to the Range. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe