Beyoncé Backlash Is Part of a Century of Cowboy Gatekeeping.

The article examines the historical and ongoing racial and cultural gatekeeping within American cowboy and country music culture, highlighting the significant but often overlooked contributions of Black cowboys, rodeo performers, and musicians. It explains that Black cowboys made up as much as a quarter of working ranch hands during the 19th century and that segregation and Jim Crow laws marginalized Black and LGBTQ+ participants in rodeo and country music, forcing them to create separate spaces. The piece also discusses contemporary controversies surrounding Beyoncé’s "Cowboy Carter" album, illustrating how entrenched perceptions of the cowboy as a white, straight male figure continue to shape debates about authenticity in the genre. This history reflects broader patterns of exclusion and erasure that persist in country-western cultural spaces.