11/20/2019
Dr. Roger Hardaway, professor of History at Northwestern Oklahoma State University
(NWOSU), has recently been featured in articles produced by three major national
publications—USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, and ROUTE Magazine.
Hardaway, who has been an NWOSU faculty member since 1990, is often cited as an expert
on the history of African Americans who have lived in the American West. He has written three
books and several journal articles on the subject. In addition, he has presented relevant papers at
several academic conferences in both Europe and North America.
“One of the more interesting topics I have researched,” Hardaway said, “is that of African
American cowboys. That was the focus of each interview I had with these three publications.”
One of Hardaway’s journal articles about African American cowboys was recently reprinted in a
book published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Another has been prominently displayed
for several years on the web-site of the Public Broadcasting System in conjunction with its series
called “Texas Ranch House”.
An editor from ROUTE Magazine, which is available for sale at major media outlets and is
offered free to visitors in thousands of American motel rooms, asked Hardaway to discuss Nat
Love who was a nineteenth-century working cowboy throughout the American West for several
years.
USA Today interviewed Hardaway on general African American cowboy culture from the
beginnings of the western cattle industry through modern-day rodeo performances. The article
focused on the interest that has been generated by the most successful popular song of the year,
“Old Town Road” by African American rapper Lil Nas X. The article was not only available to
readers of USA Today but also numerous affiliated major newspapers such as the Indianapolis
Star, Shreveport Times, El Paso Times, and Arizona Republic.
Finally, Hardaway appears throughout a documentary film produced by the Christian
Science Monitor and featured on the publication’s digital issue. The film looks at “trail rides” by
modern-day African Americans that occur regularly to commemorate the contributions of black
cowboys to American history. Participants ride horses on excursions that last from one to
several days.
This is not the first time that Hardaway has been asked to discuss his research in major
media productions. In 2017 he was quoted as an expert on black cowboys in the Smithsonian
and Pacific Standard magazines and in 2018 he was featured on a radio documentary produced
by Switzerland’s national radio network. He has also been cited as an authority on African
Americans in the American West in numerous other publications including the Dallas Morning
News, Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Independent,
Grand Forks Herald and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
