The Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg is a place dedicated to teaching the layered and uncovered pieces of Texas’ history.
Now, the founder and curator is illustrating a new lesson plan for children this Black History Month.
From his boots to feather topped hat, Larry Callies doesn’t just wear the look of a cowboy.
“I grew up in the rodeos, I grew up working cows, I grew up on a horse,” he said.
The walls of the Black Cowboy Museum tell his story and those before him.
It’s a place unlike any other.
“This is where it all started,” Callies said.
Callies, a fourth-generation cowboy, says the term was initially used by slave owners.
“They had a house boy, a yard boy, and somebody who worked the cows, he was called a cowboy,” he explained.
From the first Black rodeo champion, to the fathers of country music, century-old stories live in his collection, a calling you could say he was roped into.
“I lost my voice in 1980,” Callies said.
Ending his own country music career and launching a fact-finding journey.
“That’s what I’m trying to teach,” he said. “The true history.”
To the next generation. He and his daughter created a coloring book— illustrating pieces of history that aren’t as well known.
“They’re going to have 500 kids Friday at the George Ranch and we are going to teach Black history,” he said.
A voice he never imagined he could have.
“God really showed up,” Callies said.
The Black Cowboy coloring book is available at the museum located at 1104 3rd St. Rosenberg.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.