Black cowboys and cowgirls are not unusual in California

A touring event for Black cowboys and cowgirls from across
California and the nation. (Photo by Jason Armond, Los Angeles Times)

Actors like the late John Wayne are considered quintessential American cowboys, but that view may be changing. "Black cowboys and cowgirls are finally getting their moment to shine in the mainstream," writes Tyrone Beason of the Los Angeles Times. "The recent films 'Nope,' 'The Harder They Fall' and 'Concrete Cowboy' have burned images of Black ranchers, settlers and riders into the public’s consciousness."

Thirty years ago, seeing a Black cowboy was thought 'odd' but "Ron Jennings grew up in Los Angeles, but he’s all country, right down to his cowboy hat and folksy twang," Beason writes. "The 42-year-old smiles when recounting the strange looks he got from fellow passengers during bus rides to his grandfather’s horse stable in Gardena or to participate in rodeos at Griffith Park when he was a teen. The cowboy hat, the bell clanging against the rodeo gear in his bull bag — he came across as an oddity in the city, even more so because he is Black." 

In California, there are Black rodeos that attract African Americans from all over the nation: "At the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo’s latest stop in Los Angeles, not only are all of the cowboys and cowgirls Black — so are most of the 3,500 spectators," Beason reports. "The air smells of catfish frying and barbecue simmering."

Spectators come from all over to enjoy horses and history. Kairis Chiaji, who belongs to a Black trail riding club outside Sacramento, told Beason, "There’s something special about Black people coming together to revel in this heritage. In these spaces, it’s safe to be us.” Beason writes, "Most of those gathered express a determination to expose Americans to another facet of the West — and the Black experience."

Byron Levy, whose wife also rides, told Beason: “What’s televised about our culture, it’s always negative — Black-on-Black murders, but none of this is ever televised — 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."