• WorkIsSlow
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      38
      ·
      8 months ago

      It’s for cleaning your horse while riding.

      • casmael@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        27
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        There are a couple of chaps in the photo most assuredly - the gentleman above asked what they were wearing on their legs 🤔

        ^laughs in bri’ish^

  • Nakedmole
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    8 months ago

    Do we know today how high the percentage of black cowboys was? I could imagine classic western movies have lied to us in that department too …

    • Bassman1805
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      No idea on numbers, but considering IRL cowboys were poor folks doing hard work nobody else wanted to do…probably quite a few black men 0-3 generations removed from slavery.

    • captainlezbian
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 months ago

      It was a shit job that rose to prominence shortly after the civil war during the era of sharecropping. I’d assume it’s pretty damn high. In general jobs that suck that much get filled by people whose other options are worse.

      • PugJesusOPM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        8 months ago

        In general jobs that suck that much get filled by people whose other options are worse.

        Reminds me of reading a collection of excerpts from women working in a textile mill in the early 19th century. Like, the conditions are described are fucking HORRIFIC, like, 14+ hour shifts, one day off a week kind of shit. And you know what many of these women write about, other than the grueling conditions?

        How fucking great it is. How great it is to be free. To have financial independence. To have something to call their own.

        It’s at once inspiring, that humanity can find happiness in the struggle for their own self-actualization even in terrible conditions, and fucking horrifying that THAT state of affairs in the mill was an improvement for those impoverished coming from traditional farms with little hope of learning other trades that would give them independence.

  • fubarx@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 months ago

    Every time this gets posted, someone mentions Lil Nas X.

    • taiyang
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      8 months ago

      I mean, it would make a pretty badass album cover. Their facial expressions are serious.

  • DarkCloud
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    How about an animated comedy series that teaches US history based on this premise… They always end up having partners and kids two of which always end up being cowboys… Until the final season when they choose normal modern day jobs.