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What it means to be a Black cowboy

Episode Summary

Black people have been part of the American West for centuries. But mainstream cowboy culture long downplayed their contributions, even as they exist in the present day.

Episode Notes

Black people have been part of the American West for centuries. But mainstream cowboy culture long downplayed their contributions, even as they exist in the present day.

Today, we hear from some of them. Read the full transcript here.

Host: L.A. Times national reporter Tyrone Beason

More reading:

Black Californians have long celebrated cowboy culture. We’re just catching up

A proud group of Black Californians keep the traditions of the Old West and cowboy culture alive.

Excerpt: Cowboys in Compton find hope and healing on horseback

Episode Transcription

Gustavo Intro: Hey, what’s up – it’s Gustavo Arellano. Every once in a while I pass over the mic to one of my awesome colleagues. And today, I hand it over to Tyrone Beason. 

For the last year, Tyrone has been traveling around the country for a series on race and culture in America. In it, he explores the things that bind us, make sense of the things that tear us apart, and search for signs of healing in America through the lens of a Black man. 

We had Tyrone on last year in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms, and today, he’s going to be talking about a subject close to my heart: cowboy culture. 

When people today think of cowboys, too many folks think of just John Wayne or “Yellowstone” or white people exclusively. 

But the era popularly known as the Wild West was far more nuanced and diverse than people today might think.

Tyrone had his own revelations as he tried to understand a connection he never really knew before: that of Black people and cowboy culture. 

Tyrone: It was the annual Bill Pickett Rodeo at the MGM Grand Arena, and I'd never seen anything like it. The horseback rider waving the black, red and green flag of Black liberation, the Black cowboys and cowgirls riding tall in the saddle for the whole country to take in their glory. The Black rodeo clown who stole the show with his jokes and exaggerated Southern drawl. And it was hard to conceal my amazement. It was the first time the event had been nationally televised in its 40-year history

Tyrone: Lamontre Hosley, one of the fabled Compton Cowboys, thrilled the crowd on a bucking bronco for seconds that felt to me like agonizing minutes.

In barrel racing, Black women on horseback sprinted at breakneck speed plucking flags from each obstacle they circled.

One of the MCs was the actor and Southern California ranch owner Glynn Turman. He told me about riding horseback in New York’s Central Park when he was a kid.

And backstage in Vegas, there were legends from our time. 

L.A. native Charlie Sampson became the first Black man to win a world championship in bull riding in 1982.

And there he was mingling with the younger competitors.

This rodeo is meant to be a space for Black people to enjoy a culture that I didn't even realize we were so indebted to.

And in that moment I found myself on a quest to learn more.

Today I take you on my journey of discovery into Black cowboy culture.

Tyrone: Yep. You hear that right: Those are the sounds of Tupac's “California Love” as Black cowboys and cowgirls gallop into the stadium at the Industry Hills Expo Center east of L.A.

The Bill Pickett Rodeo made a stop there this past July.

This is the nation's largest touring Black rodeo, and it gets underway with horseback riders trotting into the arena as sunbeams radiate behind them.

The scene is like something from a movie. 

One man rides in with a little boy on his lap who wears a T-shirt that reads Future Cowboy.

The crowd cheers as L.A. musician Howard Johnson gets down on both knees during its rapt rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Negro national anthem.

The air smells of catfish frying and barbecue simmering. Vendors dish out Philly style ice treats and peach cobbler baked with pecans. Everything seems so familiar and it feels like something I've really been missing.

Recent films like “Nope,” “The Harder They Fall” and “Concrete Cowboy” – they've burned images of Black ranchers, Black settlers, and Black riders deep into the public's consciousness. Pop stars like Lil Nas X have taken a contemporary twist on western culture and found success in talking about cowboy imagery in their music.

Lil Nas X clip: Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road, I'm gonna ride till I can’t no more.. I got the horses in the back. Horse tack is attached. Hat is matte black, got the boots that's black to match. Riding on a horse …

Tyrone: And then you have Beyonce and her sister Solange, they celebrate country and western culture's Black roots in their music and videos and they've infused it with a certain hip factor.

Beyonce clip: With his right hand on his rifle, he swore it on the Bible, my daddy said shoot, oh, my daddy said shoot, He held me in his arms…

Tyrone: This whole world had been right in front of my eyes, but somehow I'd missed it.

It's almost embarrassing to admit that the Bill Pickett Rodeo and other events where Black Americans celebrate Western traditions came across as a revelation to me, especially when my people were so instrumental in creating this cowboy mystique in the first place.

Pickett himself was one of the most famous Black cowboys from the late 1800s. His claim to that fame? Inventing the sport of bulldogging, which if you don't know is the technique of literally grabbing a bull by its horns and wrestling it to the ground. Pickett is just so important to our understanding of this culture. His likeness even stands alongside the legendary white cowboys in a mural at the Autry Museum of the American West at LA's Griffith Park. He's right up there with Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull and Annie Oakley. 

In this moment, it hits me just how miseducated I've been about the history of the American West.

It's pretty obvious from the enthusiastic turnout at Black rodeos and the passion you hear in the voices of spectators, rodeo stars, and trail riders that the culture of the West is precious to my people.

But why does it feel as if this important part of my own heritage has been kept from me?

Coming up: I head to the countryside in the outskirts of Sacramento.

Tyrone: When I was growing up as a Black kid in Kentucky, I couldn't think of a more powerful symbol of the American West than a white man with his horse.

AP clip: “Head ‘em up, Rawhide…”

Tyrone: Clint Eastwood in “Rawhide” staring me down with his icy gaze. The Lone Ranger crusading against injustice on his stallion Silver. 

Ronald Reagan clip 

Tyrone: President Reagan, himself a former B movie cowboy, striking iconic poses in his hat, jeans and boots at his ranch outside Santa Barbara.

I mean, I grew up in horse country and I watched a ton of westerns, but I wasn't taught about any Black rodeo athletes or trail riders or ranchers or horse trainers. The little I did learn about the West was woefully incomplete. And basically all white.

This is why John Wayne and not Bill Pickett pops into my brain when I think about the history of the American West.

I wanted to fill in my brain's blanks. So I spoke to a historian, Tyree Boyd-Pates. He's a really well-known young Black authority on American culture,

He works as an associate curator at the Autry Museum.

Tyree Boyd-Pates: Black equestrianism has been an important aspect of Black culture since we arrived on the shores, in 1619 and onward. Whether we were behind the horses or managing them on the plantation or in the Southwest, African Americans, West Africans have had an indelible mark and relationship with horses since we came across the shores, particularly in West Africa. You actually cannot extract the ways in which the equine or the horse has played a vital role in the depiction of Shango, who is the god of thunder, and/or in the present tense when you see Nat Love and Bill Pickett on a horse to this day. Black people and horses go hand in hand, or foot to hoof. It’s a really vital piece of history that more people are becoming more aware of. 

Tyrone: He told me that at some point Hollywood decided that being a cowboy, that was a white man's occupation.

Tyree: So intentionally just want to say like, white supremacy was used by Hollywood in order to erase the contributions of the vaqueros and the Indigenous people, as well as the Black people who have been on horseback for, again, generations. But when you use Hollywood as a tool for the advancement of white superiority, like we saw particularly after “Birth of a Nation” and the proliferation of western films, was in fact visual representations of manifest destiny. That was the white cowboys, and that's the Clint Eastwoods. And that's the, that's the countless other, the Lone Ranger and all of these other things, and ironically, what many people don't know and is also commonly known within Black equestrian circles is that many of the figureheads that we recognize in western films are actually appropriations of Black cowboy personalities.

For instance, the Lone Ranger is said to have come from Bass Reeves, who was the first deputy marshal, African American deputy marshall, this side of the Mississippi, and,  to understand those correlations, and Bill Pickett and his tricks being appropriated in films, you know, and him, and him actually being in films himself in Hollywood as a Black actor, kind of just speaks to he erasure and the intentionality of it, but also the desire for, you know, subcultures, Black subcultures to reclaim their voice.

Tyrone: Black cowboys made up as much as a quarter of the workforce in the Southwest in the late 1800s. Even the word “cowboy” has roots in America's legacy of racism. It originated as an epithet, used to demean Black cattle drivers and ranch hands.

Basically, it was like calling somebody the N-word. And now because of the legacy of all those TV westerns and movies, that history has been all but erased.

Tyree told me that many Americans have this monolithic view of what Black people do and don't do. A Black man or woman or child on a horse – it's a departure from what we expect. 

Tyree: Most certainly at the center is that there is something very polarizing when you see a Black body on top of a horse in a contemporary American modern context, because traditionally when you see a cowboy or a cowgirl,  they're usually blond-haired, blue-eyed, and they're chasing down the quote unquote savages.

And in this case, when you see a Black body on top of a horse, it undermines or usurps the very notion of what that powerful figure in the American West looks like, just by sheer appreciation. And I think that's the value that I think popular culture has grabbed onto that has had deep cultural relevance to Black people for decades, if not generations, since we've been here. And really coincides with a larger goal that Black equestrians, cowboys, cowgirls have is just that they love their horses, and their horses love them right back. 

Tyrone: When Black men call themselves cowboys and when Black women refer to themselves as cowgirls, they take pride in being able to transform a painful history into something that they can glorify. 

It was at those rodeos where finally I felt and saw firsthand that racial pride on full display.

But it's not just at rodeos where you'll see Black Californians celebrating this way of life. I met up with some Black cowboys who live in the countryside south of Sacramento.

They call themselves the Loyalty Riderz trail riding club.

Loyalty Riderz Clip: L is for loyalty riders. 
Loyalty riders. 
O is for open heart to serve. 
Y is for Yeehaw first. 
Yeehaw first?
Uhhuh. Yeehaw! 
A is for always supporting. L is for love, laughter and learning. T is for trustworthy. Y is for… 

Tyrone: One afternoon I met up with some of the members at Zena and Frederick Perres’ ranch.

Loyalty Riderz Clip: R is road with no limits... R is ride horses and RVs. And Z is zest for the cowboy life.

Tyrone: Community is everything to the Loyalty Riderz. They meet at each other's ranches, they go on rides together, picnic together and take trips to rodeos. It's like this big, all welcoming African American family where nobody will judge you for being a little bit country.

Loyalty Riderz clip: We just loyal to each other, loyal to the life and loyal to the club. 
Oh, nice. 
About cowboy life. 
All about the cowboy life. Well, it's funny cause I grew up in the country in Kentucky and I never saw a Black cowboy. And so coming, it's funny, coming all the way out here, the West Coast, I feel like more connected to my roots. Roots I didn't even know I had really, you know, from tobacco country. But I mean, it seems so natural. I mean, this is like a normal way of life for you guys, right? 
Yes. Yes it is. Yeah. 

Tyrone: For Loyalty Riderz, this laid-back country lifestyle is so much more than a pastime. It truly feeds their souls.

Loyalty Riderz clip: I just don't even know what the rest of my life would look like if riding didn't constantly create the space inside of me for processing emotions, having clarity of thought. Even the shift in mindset to invest in my own self-care, cause that's what riding is for me, the self-care, that's what this club is for me, it’s my safe Black space. I have to navigate a lot of spaces that aren't, and this is my, this is where I can come home and I'm gonna always understand the language, the culture, the expectations, the music, the food is always gonna be seasoned, like, this is my safe Black space.

Tyrone: In this country, it can be hard for Black people to find any space that truly feels safe. So being out here, working with these horses, connecting with these animals: It's helped a lot of the riders learn how to connect with each other and the world. It's helped them to survive the pressure of everyday life.

Loyalty Riderz clip: If you can get a 700-pound animal…thousand-pound animal… 1,200-pound animal: however large it is, to submit and do what you ask free-willingly. That's just, I mean, training a horse, that connection. 
And maybe if I could add, I would just say it's more of a partnership.  

Tyrone: As these riders spoke to me, I realized I had never actually heard a Black person talk about connecting to an animal that way. About building trust, and the give and take. It was so special. It was almost as if they were describing a spiritual experience.

Loyalty Riderz clip: Because horses are fleet animals. That's their instinct, right? They are automatic. I mean, they have no defense out in the wild.

They running from pressure. And so for you to partner with them and to gain that trust, you know, it becomes phenomenal when it's a win-win situation. And then they just make for a better, a better ride, or better relationship.

Tyrone: Just about everyone expressed a strong desire to expose Americans to another facet of the West and the Black experience. They love inviting visitors to ride with them and hang out at their ranches. Newcomers are greeted as family.

Loyalty Riderz clip: It is always televised about our culture, it's always negative. Black on Black murders. But none of this is ever televised. You know what I'm saying? How we get together with four or five hundred Black cowboys and cowgirls, and there's no incidents. Al Sharpton don't have to show up.

Tyrone: My journey continues after the break.

Tyrone: Just a few miles away from the Perres’ ranch, Brittney Chambers and her sister Christalle are wrangling with a stubborn horse at the CBC therapeutic horseback riding academy.

CBC riding academy clip: Give me Charlie. He is our mustang.
Hi Charlie. And he, he's definitely, um, a special one. He's great with riders, but um…
He's just a little bit different than the rest. 
Charlie, you're not allowed to lick people.

Tyrone: The sisters feel a personal connection to the history of Black equestrians

CBC riding academy clip:  I remember when I was a little girl, I wanted to be the first Black girl in the, on the United States Olympic Equestrian team. There still hasn't been one, you know? So it's like the same people over, but there's never been a Black, there's never even been a Black person on the USA equestrian team anywhere.

Tyrone: Their father was a horse trainer, but they always felt so alone and unwelcome whenever they tagged along with him to horse shows in the Sacramento area. 

CBC riding academy clip: Little did people know, Black people were trainers at the racetrack. We were the jockeys. We did everything. Then we got bumped down at the stable. Well, did you know that grooms are actually the most important part of the horse? Because they're the ones that's like the mechanic on the car. You can't do anything if you don't have a mechanic. 

So we just got bumped down to the cowboys, which wasn't a good word, back in the day. You know, the boy that worked the cows, and you know what boy meant. So it was just kind of like, oh, that's not something we do. We're not welcome there. And it's like, no, we're around. So it's kind of just like, I could do this, too.

Tyrone: The sisters didn't have many Black role models in the equestrian world when they were kids. The riding academy gives them a chance to change that.

CBC riding academy clip: We do get a lot of African Americans because that's what we look like, and it just gives them a self-confidence and a purpose and like, no, I'm out here too. I could do this too. Mm-hmm. 

Tyrone: Do people appreciate, especially the younger kids of color, getting out in the fresh air, the scenery? I mean, it's beautiful out here.

CBC riding academy clip: Mm-hmm. 

Tyrone: I mean, does that do something? Just the setting, the ranch life? 

CBC riding academy clip: Oh yeah. We, a lot of people come stressed. We have therapists, we have doctors. One of the ladies who just left was a nurse. So this is their time to get out and just be like, oh my goodness. Like we're helping, you know, people who help others in a major setting.

For the kids, you know, we hear about their weeks at school, if they're having a rough time at school, they're getting bullied by someone or if their teacher's being hard on them. So this is their outlet where they can just get outside. Have fun. It's just them and the horse. So that's actually the therapeutic aspect.

Tyrone: You don't have to venture out in the boonies to get that therapeutic release. Cowboy culture exists right here in L.A., too.

Ron Jennings: I grew up riding horses all through the city. Riding down Crenshaw with the low riders. I grew up, you know, one of my favorite rides is riding from Gardena to Leimert Park, you know, riding over there…

Tyrone: Meet Ron Jennings. He grew up in Los Angeles, but he's all country, right down to his cowboy hat and folksy twang.

Ron: I rode to Autobahn all down Martin Luther King Boulevard. I rode horses all through there in the city, which was fun. Fun as heck.

Tyrone: Ron is 42 years old and he smiles when remembering the strange looks he got back when he was a teenager on bus rides to his grandfather's horse stable in Gardena or when he was going to rodeos at Griffith Park.

Ron: I met my wife riding through the city, on Broadway and Imperial. So growing up in the city and riding horses through the city was a big part of my life.

Tyrone: Nowadays, Ron runs a youth bull riding academy at his home in Jurupa Valley. He told me that bull riding is all about discipline.

Ron: Bull riding and rodeo period is all mental. 
In what sense? 
Conquering fear, not letting fear overcome your mind, and being able to work in a stressful situation, and being able to react, and not let the fear take over you. And that's not just with bull riding, that's rodeo, period. 

Tyrone: Ron's passing these values onto his own family. Take Andrew, his 12-year-old son who's already a rising rodeo star in his own right.

Tyrone/Andrew: So you can ride these. 
Yeah, I can ride those. 
What is that like? 
It's like, just normal. It's pretty much we got these horses for me to get better and, um, yeah. 
Is it different riding a bull compared to a horse? 
Not really. There is a couple things that is different, but almost, about everything, about the same, in my opinion, 
Except it's a bull with horns. 
Yeah. Yeah. 
You don't seem the least bit fazed by that. 

Tyrone: This whole world, horseback riding, rodeos, ranches, it's super expensive. And that might be why we don't see more Black cowboys today. It takes a lot to keep this tradition alive.

Ron: They want to give 'em that support. But then when that financial parts start hitting, then that's when I see 'em kind of slowing down a little bit. It do get a little financially –

Tyrone: Now, is that different for – cause, you know, African Americans have other financial challenges. I mean, that does make it – it's a barrier to entry, right?

Ron: That's what made me want to open my own business because with rodeo and what I did see is a lot of people that was real successful actually had their own businesses, or they came from families that had their own businesses that was able to give them that foundation, the financial support that you need to do this

Tyrone: I actually got to see Andrew compete when his dad invited me to a rodeo right before it was his turn to ride. He walked me through how he prepares.

Andrew: And this is the tape, and this protects your head when you fall. And then these right here are vests. Pretty much if you get stepped on, any part of your body, kind of protects yourself. 

Tyrone: After that one-on-one from Andrew on how to prepare, he hops on a bull. His dad introduces him on the megaphone. 
And then he bursts out of the gate.

Andrew holds on as long as he can with one hand in the air. The bull’s bucking and kicking and flinging him around. After about 15 seconds – actually a really long time in bull riding – he finally falls off.

I grew up with Clint Eastwood and all these cool cowboys, but Andrew, he's the coolest. I was so taken with his calmness and confidence. When I was his age, I couldn't even imagine being a cowboy. But Andrew, he's a hundred percent cowboy, just like his dad. He was wearing this hat that was pulled over his face and an engraved world championship buckle that he won at a Peewee League bull riding tournament. 

Cowboy culture has never been white America’s alone. We've always been here, and the people I met taught me that. It's something that started as a service job that required hard labor and long hours and being treated as inferior, and then got portrayed by Hollywood as this thing that wasn't for us. 

But it is for us.

And really, it always has been.

Gustavo: And that's it for this episode of “The Times: Essential News from the L.A. Times.” Ashlea Brown was the jefa on this episode and  Mike Heflin mixed and mastered it. Our show is produced by Denise Guerra, Kasia Broussalian, David Toledo and Ashlea Brown. Our fellow is Helen Li. Our editorial assistants are Roberto Reyes and Nicolas Perez. Our engineers are Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto and Mike Heflin. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmín Aguilera, Shani Hilton and Heba Elorbany. And our theme music is by Andrew Eapen. 

I'm Gustavo Arellano. We'll be back Friday with all the news and desmadre. Gracias.