He was born in 1891 in the scrublands of Kenansville, the son of a formerly enslaved man. By the time he was twelve, Lawrence Silas was working cattle. By adulthood, he was running 30,000 head across Central Florida. He became one of the most successful cattlemen in the state—Black or white.
In 1942, Zora Neale Hurston profiled him in The Saturday Evening Post, calling him a “stockily built Negro of the cow lands” whose story “is a symbol of the strength of our nation.” She watched him work cattle with ease and honesty, admired his calm in business, and quoted him as saying:
“I was born to the cowboy trade. I been cow-punching ever since I was twelve years old.”
Silas bred Brahman cattle, gave expert veterinary advice to ranchers, and paid neighbors’ taxes when they struggled. He mentored younger cowboys, kept meticulous books, and never sold a horse he wouldn’t ride himself. His motto?
“I try to deal fair—and then a little more than fair.”
Much of the land he once rode now lies beneath Walt Disney World. He passed away in 1974, just three years after the Magic Kingdom opened its gates. The morning of his stroke, he had spent the day herding cattle.
He once said:
“I’ll be a cowman as long as I live. I might even die out on the range with a cigar in my mouth. Wouldn’t be nothing wrong with that.”
Today, there’s a small street named Lawrence Silas Boulevard on the edge of the Oak Creek Preserve in Orlando. A quiet curve of pavement—perhaps too small a tribute for such a great man.
But in 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution officially recognizing the historical significance of Lawrence Silas, honoring his contribution to Florida’s livestock industry and his triumph over racial injustice.
A cattle king. A community pillar. A legend in the saddle. Florida remembers. And now, so does the nation.
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