This blog started with an article in the May 2024 Texas Monthly entitled The Former Slave Who Became a Cowboy, a Rancher, and a Texas Legend. Daniel Webster Wallace became “80 John” because that was his brand. In this article by W.K. Stratton, which was fascinating, he quotes another person asserting that the derivation of “cowboy” came from the fact that negroes were assigned to tend to the cows and since they were derisively commonly referred to as ‘boys’ we have the term “cowboys”. One of my sons, noting that Texas Monthly is notoriously liberal, said this sounded suspect. So I did what any good grandpa would do, I assigned my son’s son to research this article.
He did and could find no truth to “cowboys” being linked to the fact that blacks were often assigned to take care of cattle and so that’s where the boy part came from. According to https://altalang.com/ , “Our term cowboy was first documented in the English language by 1725. A direct translation of the Spanish word vaquero, one who manages cattle from horseback, cowboy has come to mean the same thing – a man employed to take care of grazing cattle on a ranch (OED).” En.wikipedia cites Cassidy, F.G.; Hill, A.A. (1979). “Buckaroo Once More”. American Speech. 54 (2): 151–153. doi:10.2307/455216. JSTOR 455216. I think this shows the origin of the connotation of ‘boy’. Wikipedia citing the above says, “Another English word for a cowboy, buckaroo, is an anglicization of vaquero (Spanish pronunciation: [baˈkeɾo]).”
Now go back with me 32 years to liberal, democratic culture critic for Time magazine, William A. Henry III, who wrote the book In Defense of Elitism in 1994. He died at age 44 a year after this book was published. He writes, “According to a leading figure in textbook publishing, some of the most outrageous misstatements in textbooks are written in deliberately to placate pressure groups, some of whose ideological partisans are actually in the publishers’ employ – most notably ardent feminists, whom this executive describes as ‘the most relentless, overall the worst (44). “Another conspicuous example of this kowtowing is the development of ‘Afrocentric’ curricula. …But many Afrocentric texts assert things about the African past that are dubious or outright false,..” (45). Then he goes on to give this sage warning Cardinal Wolsey is said to have uttered to Henry VIII, “’Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out” (45).
Now jump ahead to 2020 for what is regarded as the definitive “history” of the Vikings. You will have to read this paragraph several times to get what he is saying about Viking culture, and what he is saying about us: “Up to a point, one should also resist the urge to categorize: perhaps Viking-Age people chose and renegotiated their identities every day, much as many of us do. Their ideas about gender went far beyond the binaries of biological sex, as scholars are now beginning to understand. Sadly, there has been much less awareness of the privilege required to grant ourselves such innocence for so long” (Price, Neil, Children of Ash and Elm A History of the Vikings, 297).
Please note how he starts with only a possibility (“perhaps”) and moves right to an assertion (“Their ideas about gender went far beyond the binaries…). I hesitate to state this is satanic, but it is out of Satan’s playbook and dialog with Eve. He starts with a question, “Did God say?” and moves to the assertion, “You will not die.”
This sort of purposeful teaching of misinformation and asserting based on prejudices (wokeism, racism, feminism, liberalism) is on the order of Communist re-education camps and Mao’s conscious raising exercises. Did you ever wonder how Jesus’ words could ever come to pass in society as Americans know it? The words I refer to are Matthew 10:21, “Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.” Someone indoctrinated as above will become very upset when you assert their truth is an unhistorical lie. Certainly mad enough to turn you into the authorities. Mad enough to kill you?
Jesus says that something will indeed move children that far. In that same verse He also says brother will deliver brother and a father his child. So it could be woke siblings or parents on the warpath against anyone doubting “their truth”. It won’t be enough to admit the truth that 80 John was born a slave and became a Texas millionaire in the cattle business. A truly amazing feat. You’ll have to confess (I use this term purposefully.) that the term cowboy originated in racist roots, and if you won’t? Katy bar the door.
