Even outside the US, cowboy culture was alive. In Africa, cowboys have a robust history dating as far back as the 1950s. More than being simple animal herders, these cowboys were abolitionists who played their part in dismantling Europe’s imperialism on the continent. 

In 1940s Kinshasa, Congo, decades after Reeve’s achievements, colonialization and segregation were still rife. The country was under Belgian rule and a revolution was brewing amidst the racial divide and inequality. King Leopard II, who headed the Belgian government at the time, had acquired the Congo as his personal possession under the pretext of ‘civilizing’ the Congolese people. Under his rule, the Congolese people were treated harshly as many of them were brutalized, maimed, and forced to mine for valuable resources to enrich Leopard II. The Congolese fought back in protest to the brutality and their internal rebellions and external pressures from the international community forced Leopard II to turn the Congo over to the Belgian government under the name of the Belgian Congo. 

The Belgian government adopted paternalism when dealing with the Congolese populace, treating them like children to be trained into civilization. The Belgian government also limited how much education the Congolese could access to primary level. In response, the youth in Congo’s capital, Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), turned to entertainment to ease their distress. One of the more popular genres at the time was American Western movies involving cowboys, which brought in insurmountable revenue for theatres in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the all-white casts hid the reality of Black involvement in the culture, propagating the Belgian intention to subdue the Congolese people. 

In his book, Tropical Cowboys: Westerns, Violence, and Masculinity in Kinshasa, Dr Ch. Didier Gondola, explains that Congolese youth who imitated the Western cowboys were known as ‘tropical cowboys’ or ‘bills’ and included both male and female youth who transformed Kinshasa through their ‘unique language (Indoubill), performative culture, and rebellious ethos’. They were able to integrate the cowboy genre into their cultural heritage, disproving those who accused them of abandoning their traditions for foreign ideals. Instead, they didn’t care for ethnic particularities and would stick to communicating through Indoubill. 

These young bills sourced their attire—cowboy hats and boots—from Belgium. They also prioritized bodybuilding and brotherhood, supporting ‘younger brothers’ and fighting against any perceived injustices to them—this included colonialism. Gondola told CNN in 2015 that the bills’ favour with masculinity was what inspired them to emulate the winning white cowboys rather than the minority when consuming the Western media. ‘Young people, when they’re watching Manichean movies, will always side with the victors,’ he explains. ‘They’re never going to side with the people who are being destroyed, being defeated; being stripped of their masculinity.’ 

Eventually these cowboys who valued strength also became nightmares for their communities. They graduated from being big brothers who protected the young to being delinquents. The movement became violent, involving territorial disputes and sexual abuse. As many of them were without parental figures or guardians, they prowled the streets of Kinshasa freely shoplifting and pickpocketing.