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Nat Love put the "wild" in "wild west". By his own admission in his 1907 autobiography, Nat Love lead an adventurous life that took him from his birthplace as a slave in Tennessee westward to Kansas and on to Texas in search of freedom. For over 20 years, he participated in cattle drives. On July 4, 1876 he entered a rodeo in the Dakotas in a place called Deadwood. Love won some roping, bronc riding, and shooting contests that earned his nickname. With the completion of the trans-continental railroad, the "iron horse" replaced the need for cattle drives and in 1890 Nat Love retired and documented his life as an original "Black Cowboy".