'Black Cowboys: An American Story' opens at Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum

Black cowboys helped build the cattle industry in Texas, but their part in the story often gets left out. A new exhibition at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum sets out to change that.

"Black Cowboys: An American Story" is on view at the museum's downtown location, 300 N. Houston St., from Oct. 9, 2026, through April 18, 2027. The exhibit covers enslaved and free Black men, women and children who worked on Texas ranches and rode on cattle drives, from before the Civil War through the turn of the 20th century. It was created by the Witte Museum in San Antonio and has traveled to other cities. Fort Worth's Museum of Science and History hosted it earlier.

Visitors will see personal artifacts and photographs and learn how Black cowboys trained horses, cared for livestock and rode the trail alongside thousands of cattle. The exhibit also shows how their roles changed over time. It connects that history to the present, including the rise of rodeo.

The Dallas run includes a tribute to someone from close to home: the late Cleo Hearn of Lancaster, who was known across the country as "Mr. Black Rodeo." Mary Pat Higgins, the museum's president and CEO, called the exhibit one that "brings to life the remarkable men, women and children" who helped shape the American West despite facing immense adversity.

At the opening reception, exhibition curator Ronald Davis II, Ph.D., was scheduled to talk about how these trailblazers have influenced American culture and storytelling. Tickets can be reserved at dhhrm.org/black-cowboys-an-american-story.

This story is based on reporting by NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, whose Noelle Walker got an early look inside the exhibit, with more details from Equus Magazine, D Magazine, Hoodline and CultureMap Dallas.