Chaise Jones

Major: English, New Media and Digital Design

Biography: Chaise Jones is a junior at FCLC studying New Media & Design Design and English with a Creative Writing concentration. Her creative work centers on girlhood and family bonds. Originally from Houston, Texas, Jones' summer research revolves around a world she has existed in the periphery of.

Project Title: Country to Concrete: The History and Continued Legacy of Black Cowboys in the South

Faculty Mentor: Frank Boyle, English Department

Abstract: In the aftermath of June 2020, Black cowboy visibility increased as trail riding groups led BLM marches in places such demonstrations were not expected, expanding the nation’s awareness of the variety of narratives Black Americans have to tell. "Country to Concrete" addresses the following questions: What draws so many Black people to cowboy life today? Why are a significant number of Black cowboys in cities today? What does this group tell us about the varieties of social and political experiences of being Black in the South? How does the history of cowboy culture contrast the identity of today’s Black cowboy? This research endeavor seeks to contribute a new point of view to the legacy of the cowboy—one that is not white-washed and that illuminates the tensions of urban life and cowboy culture (which on the surface seem to contradict each other). Through interviews with cowboys from the South, some of the interviewees suggested by members of my own family, and analysis of historical cowboy media, this paper will contribute to a significant reorientation of the story the nation has long told about itself through Westerns. My research will be presented through a rigorously documented travelogue and photographs, contextualized by academic research and on-the-ground interviews. This project will explore the past, present and future of the Black cowboy.