“At some point in history, people started to neglect the black cowboy story, which is what makes this story so important,” he says. They also played a prominent role in the founding of the American West. The lasting narrative is that cowboys are white, but in fact, one in four cowboys in the U.S. That was a part of the story that wasn't told to me in school, and I felt like it was a part of history that I would have wanted my teachers to have told me about - and it never was.” Anthony having a moment with his horse, Dakota. “But also seeing black men on horses, to me, was very important. “I'm the son of a black man and Mexican mother, and so for me, I grew up seeing Mexican cowboys, a lot like brown men on horses, was a normal thing,” he says. Thompson-Hernández would roll down his window to hear the click-clacking of the horses hooves on the concrete.Īnd it was only as he got older that Thompson-Hernández realized these men on horses signified something even deeper: the endless possibilities of what he could do in this world as a black man. He was about five or six in the backseat of his mom's car, and there was this cowboy riding bareback with a quiet confidence, his back long and strong, taking command of this urban landscape. He says he still remembers the first time he saw one of the Compton Cowboys on a horse. “People honk at them like, 'Hey, black cowboys! You guys looking great. “Everyone stops them for photos,” he says. Thompson-Hernández grew up about 10 minutes from the city, and he says black cowboys were like “local superstars.”
Randy Hook and Kenneth Atkins (Photo by Walter Thompson-Hernández) These cowboys also made their life's work teaching young kids in South Central LA about the possibilities and power of healing through horsemanship. In his new book, " The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America's Urban Heartland," Thompson-Hernández chronicles the lives of 10 friends continuing the legacy of the original Compton Cowboys who for more than 30 years were a mainstay in the city. It’s a city where the strong bonds between black men are built through the diligent care of horses. Facebook Email Waiting to ride in the Compton Christmas Parade (Photo by Walter Thompson-Hernández)įor those who have never been to South Central Los Angeles, a mention of the city of Compton might bring to mind the sounds of gangsta rap.īut for author and journalist Walter Thompson-Hernández, there’s something else that comes straight out of Compton: black cowboys.
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