Introducing the woman revitalizing the world’s only touring black rodeo

(Bloomberg) – Skyler Brandon was 18 months old when he first met his “best friend” Charlene. Skylar’s mother, Shannon Williams-Brandon, said she was at a rodeo in Oakland, Calif., with her grandmother. “Apparently, Skyler was very fascinated by a white horse named Charlene. Her mother said she was attracted to this horse.”

When Skyler’s grandmother offered to pay for riding lessons, Skylar got to see the 1,200-pound Peruvian mare up close. Since then, she and Charlene have become inseparable.

Skylar, now 6 years old, is a two-time winner of the pee-wee barrel race at the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo (BPIR), the only black-owned traveling rodeo association, but he earned the prize money. They don’t seem to care about a few hundred dollars. When asked what he loves most about racing, Schuyler’s answer is clear. It means “running fast.”

For BPIR President Valeria Howard Cunningham, stories like Schuyler’s are the reason BPIR exists. “I love seeing young kids fall in love with rodeo,” says Howard Cunningham. “You can see the excitement on their faces as they compete, and you can see the friendships they’ve formed with other cowboys and cowgirls. Our rodeos are about It is intended to develop the generation. “

BPIR was founded in 1984 by event promoter Lou Vason, Howard Cunningham’s late husband. Bason, known for his work with musical groups such as the Pointer Sisters and the Whispers, came up with the idea for an all-black rodeo while attending Cheyenne Frontier Days, the world’s largest outdoor rodeo. He was shocked by the lack of black riders and viewers.

Shortly thereafter, he visited the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center in Denver, where he learned about the contributions of black people to the culture of the American West. There he met his namesake, the famous black cowboy and rodeo performer Bill Pickett, who was a perfect match for his idea.

For 30 years, BPIR has traveled to cities across the United States, entertaining crowds with barrel races for adults and children. There’s also bull riding, where he clings to a bull that turns away in hopes of lasting at least eight seconds, and calf roping, where he lassoes his calves and ties his legs together. Cowboys and cowgirls compete for cash prizes and championship titles in separate categories. Howard Cunningham says that in a busy year, rodeos are held in more than a dozen cities.

“Lou’s vision was to create this rodeo association, put it in venues that people had never been to before, and give black cowboys and cowgirls a much bigger platform to showcase their talent. “It was something to do,” she says. “He was very successful in that.”

When Bason died in 2015, Howard Cunningham said he was unsure whether to continue producing BPIR. “It was the community that convinced me that the community needed this, and I needed to find a way to keep this rodeo going,” she says. “Lou always believed that in order to be successful, you needed to be surrounded by strong women. Certainly in this case, that turned out to be true.”

For the past 10 years, Howard Cunningham and his team of 11 event coordinators and promoters have brought the event to life. It’s not as big as the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), which hosts hundreds of events a year and where last year’s champion Rafael Jose de Brito reportedly earned $1.5 million a season.

But for the past two years, Howard Cunningham says every BPIR show has been a sold-out event. Currently, more than 20 rodeos are held annually in seven states. This year marks its 40th anniversary, making it the longest-running black-run rodeo in the country.

Howard Cunningham first met Bason on a plane to Denver a few days before his first Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. “He told me he was producing an all-black rodeo in Denver and asked me to come see the show,” she says. The last time I saw it on TV was The Lone Ranger. ”

she didn’t go. “I had tickets to see Michael Jackson that night,” she says.

However, the two kept in touch and began dating. She ended up getting a front row seat to Vaison’s vision. “Once I started going to rodeos with Lou, I realized how passionate people were about this event. “I saw generations of people participating in this event,” she says. Many families were bringing their children to the rodeo and I realized this was a family issue. ”

Since then, BPIR has played an important role in celebrating a culture largely unknown to most Americans. Many historians estimate that up to 25 percent of 19th century cowboys were black, but popular media has long ignored the contributions of black men and women to American Western culture.

William “Bill” Pickett, the rodeo’s namesake, was a Texas rancher in the late 1800s who was responsible for capturing wild Texas Longhorn bulls. He became famous for his “bulldogging” technique, in which he grabbed a bull by its horns and bit its lip. He then uses his body weight to knock the bull sideways. Pickett began participating in rodeos in 1888 and competed against white cowboys in hundreds of events across the West.

Although the practice of biting the lip of a bull is no longer practiced, today’s BPIR spectators can watch cowboys chase and chase bulls weighing as much as 700 pounds.

With experience in event promotion and artist management, Bason was able to get people excited at the rodeo. Howard Cunningham’s guidance brought financial success. “Before I joined, I don’t think anyone had done a market-by-market cost analysis and looked at what was working and what wasn’t working in a particular city,” she says. Strong black women were already involved in rodeos and had skills in marketing and event coordination. ”

The Bill Pickett Legacy Tour visits cities that have hosted rodeos for 40 years: Denver, Memphis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Oakland, California. In 2022, a partnership with PBR created the Texas Connection Series, which features his eight shows over four days at Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum.

The season ends with the final between Washington and Maryland. There, past rodeo champions are invited to compete for the top ranking in their category. Winners receive cash prizes and some have a chance to compete in bigger rodeos. In 2022, BPIR’s top female barrel racers have received invitations to the 2022 Women’s Rodeo World Championship.

Opportunities are starting to emerge in non-traditional places.

Last summer, Kamal Miller, a 28-year-old black cowboy from Carson, Calif., who competes in the BPIR bullfighting competition, was approached by a Louis Vuitton representative for the brand’s Fall/Winter 2024 event in Paris. I was asked to participate in a collection show.

“At first I thought, ‘Louis Vuitton and Western?’ This isn’t real,” Miller says.

But it was. In early 2023, Louis Vuitton named music producer and designer Pharrell as its new creative director. Pharrell’s vision for his collection was to explore the evolution of workwear with an iconic Western touch, often seen at Bill Pickett’s Rodeo.

“Bill Pickett’s rodeo fashion is amazing,” says photographer Gabriela Hasbun, who has been photographing events for more than a decade. “They go to Tijuana and have it custom-made. They all take great pride in the clothes they wear.”

Miller’s preferred style of Wrangler jeans and Ariat boots caught the eye of LV representatives, so the company flew the cowboy to Paris for a brief modeling session before Miller debuted the new collection on January 16th. gave me a lesson.

“Pharrell helped me choose my bag and boots. He said he wanted to highlight black cowboy culture and see people like me in popular culture. “I hope this helps the younger generation understand that cowboys are black,” Miller said. Black cowboys are a lifestyle. ”

Bill Pickett Rodeo horses are as stylish as the cowboys and cowgirls who ride them. Some rodeo participants braid their horses’ manes and purchase custom saddles and rope tins. Even 6-year-old Skylar paints Charlene’s hooves green (she calls them “claws”) and puts glitter stickers on her coat before races.

Giving back has always been a top priority. In 1987, Bason and Howard Cunningham established the Bill Pickett Memorial Scholarship Fund to help talented black cowboys and cowgirls pay their entrance fees to rodeos. As BPIR continued to grow, so did the vision for the scholarship fund. In 2022, the name changed to the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo Foundation and its mission expanded to include connecting youth to jobs in agriculture and animal science.

“We want to educate our kids more about what it means to be a black cowboy, own your own land and grow your own stock,” Howard Cunningham says. . These are people who go to college to become veterinarians or rodeo promoters. ”

In late 2023, Crown Royal announced a partnership with the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo Foundation to award grants of $25,000 each to four participants to support their rodeo careers. . The foundation was also awarded her $697,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support workshops that connect young people to careers in agriculture.

“People told Lou that he would never make it and that what we were doing would never survive,” Howard Cunningham says. Now she’s thinking more long-term. The Bill Pickett Rodeo will continue. Young cowboys and cowgirls, now 3, 4 and 5 years old, will do it. ”

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