Black History Month is about honoring the stories that helped build America — including right here in Texas.
Long before Hollywood defined the Wild West, Black cowboys were driving cattle, breaking horses and shaping ranch culture. In Rosenberg, one museum is dedicated to preserving that often-overlooked legacy.
Inside the Black Cowboy Museum, founder Larry Callies says his journey to preserving history started with faith.
“God asked me to open up a Black Cowboy Museum. I say God I can’t even talk why do you want me to open up a museum. He said step in faith.”
Callies opened the museum in 2017, but his passion for collecting pieces of Western history began decades earlier.
“That old chest is the first thing I bought in 1975. I just wanted an old chest and I painted it they say you never want to paint an old chest you want to leave it the same way but I thought I did a great job.”
From saddles and firearms to photographs and rare antiques, each item inside the museum tells a story. Some artifacts are especially powerful — including one that often surprises visitors.
“I’ve been here nine years, nobody has seen this. You’ve seen the marshal, the sheriff, the Texas Ranger. Have you ever seen this one? Plantation police. Runaway slave patrol. South Carolina, 1858.”
Callies says his mission is simple: preserve and share the truth about Black cowboy heritage. Historians estimate that as many as one in four cowboys in the 1800s were Black — yet their contributions were often left out of mainstream narratives.
He also shares his perspective on the origins of the word “cowboy,” tracing it back to enslaved laborers at George Ranch in Fort Bend County in the early 1800s.
“And they would say, go get me that boy that work in the house. That’s my house boy. Go get me that boy that work in the yard. That’s my yard boy. Go get me that boy that work the cows. He was called a cowboy. And he was a black man. He was a slave. That’s where the word cowboy came from on that ranch. It was the first ranch in Texas. And the white men refused to be called a cowboy in the 1800s because a cowboy was a black man, not a white man.”
Before he told the stories of Black cowboys, Callies says he wanted to be one himself.
“Always ever since I was 3 years old.”
But his life would take more than one turn.
Before becoming a historian, Larry Callies was also a country music performer — even leading the Bronco Band.
In 1990, a neurological condition caused him to lose his voice.
“I lost my voice in 1990. When I lost my voice, I lost my band, and I lost my manager.“
What he lost in music, he found in purpose.
Today, as Black Western heritage experiences a cultural renaissance — from rodeo arenas to country music stages — Callies says the moment feels full circle.
Global superstar Beyoncé recently spotlighted Black country roots with her album Cowboy Carter and even referenced Callies directly.
“The first country western singer were black, and the word cowboy came from slaves. And that sparked something here, and, but she got something from me that she got the word cowboy Carter from cowboy Larry.”
Beyoncé later donated $25,000 to support the Black Cowboy Museum.
For Callies, it’s validation that the history he has worked to preserve for years is finally gaining national attention.
He may have lost his singing voice — but inside this museum, history speaks loud and clear.
The dreams keep getting bigger for Larry Callies. He is now in the process of building a brand-new museum about 15 minutes away in Kendleton. The project is expected to cost around $4 million and span nearly 9,000 square feet.
Callies hopes to open the new location sometime next year.