Nat Love, the legendary African American cowboy of the Old West. Born into slavery in 1854, he rose to become a skilled cattle driver and sharpshooter, earning the nickname “Deadwood Dick.”
His thrilling adventures, recounted in his autobiography, highlight the grit and spirit of the American frontier. Nat Love’s legacy as a rodeo champion and cowboy icon continues to inspire generations.
His early life
Nat Love was born into slavery, living with his mom, who managed the kitchen, and his dad, who worked as a foreman in the fields. He had two siblings, an older sister named Sally, and an older brother named Jordan.
Even though laws back then didn’t allow black folks to learn, Nat learned to read and write with his dad’s help. After slavery ended, his parents stayed on the plantation, trying to grow tobacco and corn.
When Nat was a teen, his dad and brother-in-law passed away that left him in charge of both households. But as time went on, he got this itch to see what else was out there. When his uncle came to visit, Nat figured it was his chance to go explore. So, he headed west, first landing a gig as a cowboy in Texas and later in Arizona.
Love’s adventures
In his autobiography from 1907, Nat Love, a cowboy, talks about Dodge City, Kansas. He described the town smattered with the romanticized institutions of the frontier “a great many saloons, dance halls, and gambling houses, and very little of anything else.” It was there that he started his cowboy life.
After the war, ranchers came back to find their cattle gone or all over the place. They tried to gather them up again, but it was hard work. They used to rely on slaves to help out, but when the Emancipation Proclamation came, they lost that help. So, they had to find new ways to get their cattle back in line.
With no more free workers to help, ranchers had to hire African-Americans who were now free. These folks knew how to handle cattle, so they became paid cowhands. It was a tough time, but everyone pitched in to get things back on track.
William Loren Katz, a scholar of African-American history and the author of 40 books on the topic, including The Black West says, “Right after the Civil War, being a cowboy was one of the few jobs open to men of color who wanted to not serve as elevator operators or delivery boys or other similar occupations.”
Freed black cowhands skilled in guiding cattle found themselves in high demand when ranchers started selling their livestock up north, where beef fetched way more cash compared to Texas. Since there weren’t many railroads in Texas, huge herds had to be driven to shipping spots in Kansas, Colorado, and Missouri. Riding on horseback, cowboys tackled rough trails filled with tough weather and attacks from Native Americans protecting their territories.
As they journeyed through towns, African-American cowboys faced discrimination. Some restaurants and hotels wouldn’t serve them, just because of their skin color. But among their crewmates, they got respect and were treated fairly, unlike many other black folks of that time. This respect helped them push through the challenges they faced on the trail, knowing they had support from their fellow cowhands.
Love recalled the strong bond between cowboys, admiring their camaraderie. “A braver, truer set of men never lived than these wild sons of the plains whose home was in the saddle and their couch, mother earth, with the sky for a covering,” he wrote. “They were always ready to share their blanket and their last ration with a less fortunate fellow companion and always assisted each other in the many trying situations that were continually coming up in a cowboy’s life.”
However, there were big changes that hit the American West. Railroads took over from cattle drives, barbed wire fenced off the land, and Native Americans were moved onto reservations. With all this, cowboys found themselves with less work to do, especially African-Americans who couldn’t buy land easily. It was a tough time for many cowboys.
Love was one of them. He left behind the wild life of a cowboy to work as a Pullman porter on the Denver and Rio Grande railroad. “To us wild cowboys of the range, used to the wild and unrestricted life of the boundless plains, the new order of things did not appeal,” he recalled. “Many of us became disgusted and quit the wild life for the pursuits of our more civilized brother.”
Even though the cowboy gigs were drying up, folks still couldn’t get enough of the cowboy lifestyle. That’s when Wild West shows and rodeos stepped in, keeping the cowboy spirit alive for everyone to enjoy.
Later years of Nat Love: from cowboy to courier
After living the cowboy life for eighteen years, Nat decided to settle down towards the late 19th century. He married and became a Pullman porter overseeing sleeping cars in Denver. In the early 20th century, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a courier and guard for a security company.
In 1907, Nat Love published his autobiography, Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as ‘Deadwood Dick,’ by Himself. This book greatly boosted his legacy, giving readers an inside look at his adventurous life. Later on, Love continued to work in Los Angeles as a courier and guard for a securities company. He passed away there in 1921, at the age of 66.