‘High Horse: The Black Cowboy’ trailer drops, reclaiming erased history with Jordan Peele, Tina Knowles, and more

Jordan Peele is gearing up to release a new documentary, “High Horse: The Black Cowboy,” chronicling the legacy of the Black American cowboy.

There’s a reckoning happening in Western and Southern culture. From Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” to Pharrell’s elevated modern rodeo looks for Louis Vuitton, Black folks have been reclaiming a history long hidden beneath dust and myth. And now, a new documentary is asking the question everyone’s been thinking: what happened to all the Black cowboys?

Jordan Peele, Tina Knowles, Rick Ross, Lori Harvey, Bun B, Pam Grier, and more are getting on their high horses to tell us.

This week, Peacock dropped the trailer for “High Horse: The Black Cowboy,” a three-part docuseries from Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions that dives deep into the history—and erasure—of the Black cowboy in American culture. 

“If there were no Black cowboys, then America wouldn’t exist,” declares a voiceover early in the clip, setting the tone for what’s to come.

The trailer opens like a scene straight out of a classic Western: two men squaring off in a dusty main street, the tension thick enough to slice with a spur. But instead of fading into the same old John Wayne fantasy, the camera reveals that while one man is white, the other is Black. The camera then cuts through time—a whip-pan of reenactments, rodeos, and slow-motion shots of Black riders galloping across open fields. 

The montage weaves between archival photos and contemporary interviews with stars like Ross, Knowles, and Grier, intercut with glimpses of the modern South and West. There are glimpses of Black women riding bareback, cowboy hats glinting under neon lights, and a thumping score by Raphael Saadiq that nods to the roots of country and blues that were stolen right alongside the cowboy myth itself.

Executive-produced by Peele alongside Win Rosenfeld, Keisha Senter, Jamal Watson, and others, and directed by Jason Perez, the documentary features Peele, Knowles, Bun B, Blanco Brown, Lori Harvey, Pam Grier, INK, Rick Ross, Glynn Turman, Lynae Vanee, Michael Harriot, and The Compton Cowboys. Through humor, style, and unflinching storytelling, it aims to restore the Black cowboy to the heart of America’s origin story.

“I’m grateful to Monkeypaw for amplifying the powerful voices and long-standing culture of Black Cowboys and Cowgirls through High Horse: The Black Cowboy, on Peacock,” Peele said in a release. “Their history is inseparable from the story of our country — and this project aims to honor and celebrate their lasting legacy.”  

And its timing couldn’t be better. We’re living in a full-blown Black Western renaissance—from movies and shows like “The Harder They Fall” and “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” to the rise of artists like Willie Jones and Brittney Spencer, who are putting soul back into country music. Even social media is in on it with viral line dancing challenges and footage of Black line dancers stomping their “Boots on the Ground” across TikTok. 

“High Horse” will show us how it all began. The three-part series debuts on Peacock starting November 20.