Born in June 1854, Nat Love was an African-American cowboy and former enslaved person in the period following the American Civil War. His exploits have made him one of the most famous black heroes of the Old West.
Love was born enslaved on the plantation of Robert Love in Davidson County, Tennessee around 1854. His father was an enslaved foreman on the plantation's fields, and his mother the manager of its kitchen. Love had two siblings: an older sister, Sally, and an older brother, Jordan. Despite slavery-era statutes that outlawed black literacy, he learned to read and write as a child with the help of his father, Sampson. When slavery ended, Love's parents stayed on the Love plantation as sharecroppers, attempting to raise tobacco and corn on about 20 acres. Afterward, Nat took a second job working on a local farm to help make ends meet. At about this time, he was noted as having a gift for breaking horses. After some time of working extra odd jobs in the area, he won a horse in a raffle, which he then sold back to the owner for $50. He used the money to leave town and, at the age of 16, headed West.
African-American cowboys may still be underrepresented in popular accounts of the West, but the undeniable contributions of the early African-American cowboys alive. Love died of natural causes in 1921.
