Cowboy Exhibit
FLORIDA'S BLACK COWBOYS: PAST AND PRESENT
This permanent exhibit chronicles the centuries long participation of Africans and African Americans in Florida's cattle industry.
"Cowboy" was a term coined in the Carolinas during the 1700s and meant "a black slave who tended cows." Long before that however, Africans and their New World descendants, both free and slave, were tending vast herds of cattle on the prairies of Florida.
The exhibit traces the beginnings of a cattle herding tradition in Saharan Africa 6,000 years ago. By the 1500s, herding had evolved into a well developed ranching system in Spain where large herds tended by mounted horsemen ranged over extensive grazing lands. Cattle ranching had become a business ready for export to the New World.
Spaniards introduced both cattle and Africans to Florida during the 1500s. By the mid-1600s, many large cattle ranches had been established in northern and central Florida. Blacks, both free and enslaved, worked these ranches as overseers and hands. Today, black men and women remain important players in ranching operations throughout Florida.
This project has been financed, in part, with Historical Museum Grants-in-Aid Program Assistance provided by the Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State. Promotional funding was provided by the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners through Tourist Development Funds.
Copyright © 2008 Florida Agricultural Museum. All rights reserved
A popular attraction convenient to St. Augustine and the Daytona Beach area.
Florida Agricultural Museum, 7900 Old Kings Road, Palm Coast, Florida 32137
386-446-7630 • fax 386-446-7631 • email: info@myagmuseum.com • Bruce Piatek - Executive Director
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