If you know me at all you know I don’t know anything about pop culture and I’m not the best at keeping up with social media (that’s why I have a social media manager!) and I know precisely nothing about what’s going on in the Twitterverse at any given moment. But even I knew about the unmissable moment of “Old Town Road” when an openly gay, black man brought us the incredibly addictive meme-able phenomenon that defined 2019. After getting kicked off the country charts, Lil Nas X collaborated with Billy Ray Cyrus for the CMAs’ Musical Event of the Year winning remix and blew open the doors on the definition of country music.
Sometime in 2018, a ball started rolling. Bri Malandro, a young Black woman from Dallas, TX coined the term “Yeehaw Agenda” playing off of “The Gay Agenda,” and introduced a language for the cultural reimagining of cowboys and reclaiming of cowboy culture by Black people. The internet exploded with people, particularly black women, TikToking and Twittering and Instagramming their glam western wear.
America has its own mythology and central to that mythology is the Old West, cowboys, and the open range (never mind that the Old West was largely gone by the time it came into popular culture at the end of the 19th century through programs like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show). Largely erased from the history turned spectacle turned mythos are Black cowboys and cowgirls who were an essential part of the culture of the American West.
The Wild West was lawless with a population constantly in motion making it difficult to find a firm count of the total number of cowboys, but it is estimated that at least a quarter of all cowboys were Black. Texas was the cattle ranching heartland, where cattle were raised and then herded through the open west to northern states where they fetched higher prices. By 1860, thirty percent of the population of Texas was Black. Many white ranchers left Texas to fight with the Confederacy during the Civil War, depending on enslaved people to take care of their cattle, which meant that post-war Texas was teeming with skilled Black cattle hands, many of whom went on to find work as cowboys.
It’s no surprise that Texas is the origin of the Yeehaw Agenda. Once the birthplace of ranch culture, Texas continues to be the epicenter of the reimagining what a cowboy is. There’s a mashup of the Dallas oil wealth cowboy and the bling of the Dolly Parton era Grand Ole Opry happening among hometown musicians like Beyonce, Solange, and Megan Thee Stallion.
The Yeehaw Agenda has been around for a long time (Esquire has a great article here ), arguably as long as there have been cowboys. Black cowboy culture has continued to thrive despite the invention of barbed wire and the end of the Wild West - from the Compton Cowboys to Bill Pickett’s Rodeo to Black westerns like “The Harder They Fall.” Even “Cowboy Carter” falls in a long line of Black country music with traditionals like “Home on the Range” and “Git Along Little Dogies” attributed to Black cowboys. The Yeehaw Agenda is here to stay.
Without further ado, our top five hats for the Yeehaw Agenda
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SLOW STINGER – the classic curled cowboy brim comes in bubble gum pink or cream with a simple pheasant tail feather trim wrapped around the crown. If you're looking for something to wear with a fringe jacket, Slow Stinger is a great choice. Bonus, this one is wired so you can wear it as a flat brim too. |
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WORMWOOD – often the problem with flat brim hats is that they’re really wide and hard to wear. This one has a modest 3 ½” width and a low crown for a deep fit. And did I mention the snake trim? |
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OUTLIER – if you’re looking for something a little different from the average cowboy hat, the pencil roll on this hat is a great detail. It subtly adds a lot of interest and you don’t have to worry about the brim getting wavy after you’ve worn it a few times. |
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McCREA – this one is a personal favorite of mine and Jane’s. The gus crown is a western classic with more traditional dress hat trim. Understated but sharp. |
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LUCKY ME – this hat pulls out all the stops. From the unique arrowhead crown, faux snake and turquoise tone trims, and big ol’ brim. She glamorous. |
AND IF YOU AREN'T READY TO COMMIT TO A COWBOY HAT, you can bling out an existing hat with western trim like our Horsehair Bands, Beaded Hat Bands, or these gorgeous Tooled Leather Hat Bands.
