Cowboy
Strike
dir. Mathew Pehl
2024
Running time: 22 min.
Film:
In 1883, cowboys in the Texas Panhandle responded to the rise of the first mega-ranches in dramatic fashion: they launched a strike. In investigating the story of this long-forgotten historical anecdote, a contemporary songwriter seeks to pay tribute to the cowboys’ search for economic justice. In doing so, he must rethink the meaning of the mythic legacy of the American frontier.
Mathew
Pehl
Born in South Dakota, Matt has lived in half a dozen other states and enjoys traveling around the country. After earning a BA in film studies from the University of Minnesota, Matt decided to become a historian. He earned a PhD in American History from Brandeis University in 2009 and currently teaches at Texas Tech University. He is author of the book The Making of Working-Class Religion (U of Illinois, 2016). At the same time, Matt has always loved cinema, so he enrolled in the Documentary program at the University of Missouri in 2022. Cowboy Strike is his first film.