One third of the real cowboys were Mexican, another third were Black. Cowboy was a terrible job, and they were mostly despised as "saddle tramps’ until the sheep herder/cattle rancher wars. The ranchers, and later Wild West shows, played up the romance of the cowboy.

Ain’t that pretty fucking obvious?

Funny thing related to this: I’ve heard that the Chevy Nova (car) was put out for sale in Mexico. No one bought it because “Nova” = “No va” = no go. No one wanted the “no go” car.