Nat Love Becomes Celebrated Black Cowboy on Western Frontier

Nat Love, formerly enslaved in Tennessee, headed west after emancipation and became one of the most celebrated cowboys on the frontier, winning the Deadwood City roping and shooting championship in 1876 and earning the nickname Deadwood Dick. His 1907 autobiography documented the significant but often overlooked role of Black cowboys — estimated to make up about a quarter of all cowboys in the post-Civil War West.