Bones Hooks and Western Folklore: A Rhetorical Analysis of a Pioneering African American Cowboy

Abstract

The myth of the Old West frontier is our national epic; the quintessential American hero is the cowboy. Scrutinizing the history and rhetoric behind the legend, however, reveals more fantasy than fact. The often told story of Mathew “Bones” Hooks, an African American cowboy from the Texas Panhandle, replete with iconic imagery, also reveals Hooks conflicted about his identity and social status as a black man in rapidly changing, early twentieth century society. This paper enlists Walter Fisher's 1984 narrative paradigm, highlights the conflicting characterizations of Hooks and examines the underlying rhetorical themes shaping his story. Lacking the “logic of good reasons,” reality collides with myth dissuading the audience from the narrative's probability and fidelity.

Acknowledgments

This paper was completed in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Master of Arts in Communication at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. I wish to thank Dr. Trudy L. Hanson, Head of the Department of Communication, for her review and comments of an earlier version of this manuscript.

Notes

1. During research in the archives of the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, an interesting entry regarding Hooks' parentage came to light. In 1933, a student from West Texas State College History Class 413 reporting on the class's interview with Hooks noted: “His father was a German and his mother, tho [sic] a negro, looked very much like a white woman.” This may explain Hooks' later references to having “white blood.”