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Teacher's Guide for FOOTSTEPS Black Cowboys & Cowgirls

March 1999

Teacher Guide prepared by: our staff.

Before reading the issue, ask students to name cowboys and cowgirls about whom they have read or whom they have seen in a movie.

  • Have them estimate the time period in American history these cowboys/cowgirls represent.
  • Have them also say in which states cowboys were most active. Let them suggest reasons for why this was so.
1. Read, with the students, the article "Invisible Hero: The Image and The Reality of the Black Cowboy". Go over the questions asked before the reading and have students compare their answers with the facts in the "Invisible Hero" article. Let them suggest reasons for discrepancies between their answers.

2. Have students write two to three paragraphs on why blacks chose the profession of cowboy. Make sure they relate at least one reason to the Emancipation Proclamation.

3. Ask students if they have read about a cowgirl, or seen a cowgirl in a movie. Then read with them the story of Mary Fields. Ask them for adjectives they would use to describe Mary Fields. Write these adjectives on the blackboard.

    FOLLOW-UP: Ask students to name women today (of any ethnic group) who have become renowned for having the same traits as Mary Fields. Such traits could be an adventurous spirit and a refusal to yield to circumstances. Best if you can use the adjectives offered by the students as traits.

4. Read with the class the interviews with Earl Munroe on pages 12-13. Ask how his reflections and memories bring Mary to life. In what way do they paint a fuller picture of Mary?

    FOLLOW-UP: Ask students to make a list of questions they would ask Earl Munroe and have them give a reason for asking each question. Ask each student to interview someone who has baby-sat for them. Have them formulate questions that will offer any reader of the interview a descriptive insight into the student's character.

5. Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group one of the four black cowboys whose stories are on pages 14- 22. Ask each group to read about its personality, write a brief descriptive paragraph about the cowboy, and make a collage of images that explain the details of his life. Then have each group "present" its cowboy to the rest of the class.

6. Change the focus to cowboys and cowgirls today. Ask if any have ever been to a rodeo, ridden a horse, or seen a bull. Have each student who answers tell the when, where, and why of his/her answer.

7. Divide the class into groups and assign each group one of today's rodeo events: calf roping, bull riding, barrel racing, etc. Have each group read about its event. Let each group draw a picture showing the event, list the criteria for completing the event, list the potential dangers, list reasons why a person would choose to compete, and then present their findings to the rest of the class.

    FOLLOW-UP: Have students contact the Little Britches Association and the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association for names of cowboys to interview.

9. Read the stories of A.J. Walker, Chris Littlejohn, and Myrtis Dightman. Let students think of a Hall of Fame they would found and then have them list the criteria a person would have to meet to be inducted into this Hall of Fame.

10. Have students write a two-to-three paragraph essay about the lessons the black cowboys and cowgirls in this issue can teach them.

Additional activities such as learning a cowboy's song, defining a cowboy's gear, understanding and inventing brand names, and making spurs are also found in the issue.

Research projects are also possible based on the information in the issues. Students can search for information about why there are fewer cowboys today than in the past, how animals are herded today, the duties and responsibilities of cowboys on the range today. They can also research if there are any cowgirls working with cattle on the range today.

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