"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
I made no academic claim. My information comes from a variety of
sources, mainly investigative journalistic programmes on the TV. Had I
made an academic claim, you would be perfectly justified to call me on
it. I didn't. Roehling did, I called him and he proved not to have the
credentials he claimed.

OK, Don, but I think it may be time to admit that your
"investigative journalistic programmes" may have erred here.
I've lived in the western U.S. most of my life and am reasonably
familiar with the history of the region. While you are correct
in the belief that there were a fair number of black and Chinese
persons working here throughout the latter half of the 19th
century, it is simply not correct to think that the "huge majority
of cowboys were black or Chinese." There certainly were
cowboys of both races in the American Old West - but they
were definitely not the majority.

You may have confused what these programs were saying
re the West (within the continental U.S.) with what they may
have said about U.S. possessions in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. For example, Hawaii (although it's certainly
not the place you first think of when someone says "cowboy")
did (and still does) have a fair number of "cowboys," and
through the period in question brought in a LOT of Chinese
and Japanese laborers, some of whom certainly wound up in their
share of "ranch" jobs.

Bob M.