What was it like to seek opportunity on the western frontier following emancipation? Learn more about driving and branding cattle on the open fields as you transcribe Hector Bazy's manuscript.
What was it like to seek opportunity on the western frontier following emancipation? Learn more about driving and branding cattle on the open fields as you transcribe Hector Bazy's manuscript. Hector Bazy (1851-?) was born to slave parents and followed his heart after emancipation to become a cowboy in Texas. Across 30 pages, he writes about his daily activities like cooking over a campfire and cattle herding; Bazy also discusses the origins of his name and what drove him to leave the plantation once freed. The manuscript also discusses the ways men helped him and each other in good and bad years on the prairies.
This manuscript, shared by the Anacostia Community Museum Archives, documents Hector Bazy's life as an African American cowboy throughout the Southwest prairies. Within the manuscript, Bazy has included photographs and two camp songs. Please note that some language in this manuscript may be offensive to some viewers. It is presented as it exists in the original document for the benefit of research. This material in no way reflects the views of the Anacostia Community Museum Archives or the Smithsonian Institution.
Learn more about Hector Bazy through the Smithsonian Institution and the Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
