Photojournalist and writer Brian Branch Price visited Francis Lewis High School on February 6 to speak about Black Cowboys and other aspects of Black history. Students from the Journalism Academy were present to hear his insight on these cowboys and their impact on the history of America.

Price shared his origins with Black Cowboys.

“I found out about them by watching a movie,” Price said, “and then seeing them in a parade.”

Price revealed that Black Cowboys originated from the period of time when slavery was yet to be abolished, and there were Black cattle herders. Due to this, they were referred to as ‘Cow boys’, and the name stuck throughout the years. There is still a strong connection that people have with their roots.

“I saw Buck and the preacher growing up,” Price said. “Black folks were just emancipated. Buck was a retired buffalo soldier and now a frontiers man or guide. It was so cool seeing black folks on horses and shooting guns, talking with Indians, robbing banks. That was the culture of the west back in the mid 1800’s. The story had interesting facts.”

Once he saw them in the parade, he had to investigate, and was curious on what more they did.

“They told me, ‘we’re gonna have a big cookout,’” Price added. “And then they said to me, ‘we also have these trail rides once a year, where we visit other clubs that have trail rides.’ They’ve got tons of trails and rodeos. It’s a whole culture that you don’t see every day.”

The event was very informative and beneficial to students who wished to pursue journalism, according to co-event coordinator Ms. Barnes.

“I’m on the committee of Black History Month programs, and we all got together and decided to put an interest letter out to the community of people that we know,” Ms. Barnes said. “Mr. Price was very much willing to come to our school and share his stories with our students.”

“I thought the event was very informative to our students, specifically students who may be interested in journalism or photography,” Ms. Barnes added. “I hope that Mr. Price gave them an idea of pursuing their dreams.”

Students in attendance believed that he expressed himself and the topic impressively throughout the event.

“I think he did really well,” junior Isabella Rodriguez said. “He expressed himself incredibly well. I think that he did a very nice job at teaching us the importance of journalism and the meaning of it. I think it can really unite people and teach a lot of people things that they don’t know, or bring new things to our knowledge that we might not have known we were interested in.”

“I learned a lot about how to go through the journalism process in its own creative way, and how Mr. Price does journalism in his own ways,” Rodriguez added.

Junior Andreana Wu gave her opinion on Black Cowboys, as she also attended the event with her journalism class.

“I thought it was cool that we even had a visitor in the first place,” Wu said, “because it’s something we don’t usually have. It was also cool to hear stories and see videos of what it was like for the Cowboys, and how he used photography and told stories about Black Cowboys.”

She had previously watched a movie called Concrete Cowboys, featuring a tight knit Black community, and how a teenager is introduced to it, and to the cowboys themselves. 

“I knew about Black Cowboys,” Wu said, “but I didn’t expect someone to come to New York and into a high school to talk about them.”

Price is a New Jersey native and says that helped shape him into the photographer he is today.

“I grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey,” Price said. “Home of Irvin Penn and Margarate Bourke White, look them up too.”

Price prefers shooting in black and white, as apposed to color.

“It tells the story,” Price said.  “It’s intimate, soothing, relaxing, just straight up telling. I shoot color when it calls for it.”

Price believes that events like this are essential to bringing awareness to topics students might not be aware of.

“I think it’s important, because exposure is very important, not only about Black history, but just history in general, experiences that can influence young minds,” Price added. “I think the goal, as educators, is that we want young people to be exposed to not only Black history, but all cultures, and embrace how different we all are. Since we’re in such a diverse city, such a diverse high school, we should embrace everybody.”