Dozer Blog: Black Rodeo

Welcome back to the Dozer blog! Right now I'm jamming to Westside Gunn and drinking some white wine in preparation for the first installation of the magazine. This first article means a lot to me, not because of pressure on kicking off Dozer the right way, but rather because the topic of Black cowboys fascinates me. All of Black history in America is fundamentally sociopolitical. Everywhere you turn from housing, to the military, to music scenes, no matter the niche there is always a history and in turn a story to be told about Black people and their roles or treatment in these spaces. So, in 2020 when I learned that the word cowboy was a term used exclusively for slave men who handled cattle, I grew more interested in the topic and the aesthetic. So often the western and country aesthetic is viewed as the marvel of white culture; so naturally I distanced myself from it. But that little bit of information about the word cowboy, helped me realize that the country aesthetic is for us as well. In this article titled “Black Rodeo” we’re gonna get into Black cowboys and the history that comes with them. 

Growing up in Houston was amazing. As the fourth largest city in the U.S. we have access to world renowned museums, restaurants, and sports teams. Not to mention the rich cultures that live in the city. From the Hip-Hop roots of Third Ward to our thriving Chinatown, Houston doesn’t miss in terms of diversity and representation. That said, as a former resident of Houston there are two things that are never in the forefront of your mind if you live there. Those two things being any and all ideas of western themes, and the God forsaken Space Center Houston. The space center isn’t even in Houston! Beyond the names of most of our sports teams, references to space are minimal; and I thank God and local advertisers for that. The same can be said for any real cowboy aesthetic. Outside of the Houston Livestock Rodeo every March, if you want to see people lean into the classic Texan vibe, look no further than Dallas. Other than that the only time you’ll hear country music is at a bar that’s promoting itself as a safe space for white people. Someone would have to seek out the true country vibe that they’re looking for, simply because that vibe isn’t in abundance the way you might assume so if you live outside of Texas. Now you could make the argument that I simply don’t look for these places, and for that reason it skews the scope of how I view Houston. That would be a fair point, however, I and every other Black person in Houston are still aware that we live in the south. Fundamentally southern country themed locations that aren’t the Rodeo (and even still) don’t feel the most inviting historically. I emphasized every other Black person so certain white people who read this don’t get sidetracked from my overall point. I get it, you have a Black friend who’s apolitical,  loves country music, and always finds a way to distance themselves morally from other Black people. But the rest of us don’t flock to these places because of the history and politics that are linked to them. No one wants to go where they aren’t wanted, and white dominated spaces aren’t the most comfortable for people of color. Moreover, dixie/southern spaces have more than earned their reputation in being racist. If you’re in these spaces and feel like the claim I just made is a bit excessive, understand that there are two Americas. The get up and aesthetic that you’re leaning into isn’t just something that started existing when you decided to don it. It’s a look that’s well known by your ancestors and mine. I’m not saying all of this in an attempt to vilify people who like the country aesthetic, I simply want to paint a picture showing why Black people typically avoid it. I personally avoided it for so long. It wasn’t until I was driving through Third Ward in Houston one day and I saw some Black guys riding their horses that I finally had an epiphany. 

I’d seen Black people riding horses plenty of times in Houston, so I don’t know why this specific sighting spoke to me the most. The question I asked myself wasn’t the why, but the how. How the hell did these guys who live in the Blackest part of the city find themselves dressing like cowboys and riding horses? I started doing some research and decided to look up the origins of the word cowboy. I found that the word was originally used to refer to black slaves who oversaw cattle. It was used for them, and them alone. White overseers who worked with cattle were specifically called cowhands; in order to delineate the difference in seniority. If you don’t already know, the word boy is another racist term used in America to dehumanize, belittle, and emasculate Black men. It’s used to put Black men in their place and promote this idea of perpetual inferiority to white people. So, when I learned this information about cowboys, not only did it make me think “DAMN AGAIN”? In reference to how inescapable racism is for Black people, It also instantly gave me an understanding that all of this country shit is for us too. I’m sorry, but if the origin of this word that white people love to call themselves is born out of slavery I’m right here with y’all. I started to lean into the cowboy aesthetic, I bought new boots, attended country bars, listened to country music (still sucks), and overall just adding my flair to a culture I thought was fundamentally white. At the time that was honestly about as deep as my research went. I can’t lie, it was that easy. All I needed to know was that Black people have been involved in the country scene for centuries; that gave me the social/historical jurisdiction to do whatever I wanted in those spaces. I wanted to learn more about black cowboys because after years of having a shallow understanding of them, I wanted an intimate understanding of how we fit into the world of country. So, I paid a visit to the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenburg, Texas to do just that.

For three years I had a lot of fun playing with cowboy aesthetics off the little information I knew about them. However, around the time I started working on the Hoedown issue for Dozer, my friend Seven gave me the idea to pay a visit to the Black cowboy museum. A huge motivation for Dozer is allowing myself to learn more about my interests and then creating and curating art out of what I’ve learned. So, when Seven gave me that idea I saw an opportunity for knowledge and additional visual aids to incorporate into the mag. Now of course I won’t be giving y’all the entire tour of what I learned, but rather some notes that I feel are important to the overarching theme. 

I made my visit on the morning of December 19th. I was greeted by the owner of the museum, Larry Callies. He wasted no time in telling me his background and how it inspired the development of the museum. Larry has access to what most Black people can only dream to have... records to family history. We briefly discussed the rarity of any Black person being able to track their family back past the early 1900s. This man has records dating back to the 1400s! I truly could’ve read his family tree all day. Larry comes from a family of black cowboys, dating back as far as the 1840s. Needless to say I found the right man to teach me what I needed to know. Amongst all the family Larry had to speak of, he spoke about his cousin Tex Williams the most. Tex was a storied bull rider, partially due to the fact that he was the first black man to win a white rodeo. He was actually a repeat champion winning in both ‘67 and ‘68. I can only imagine how satisfying it must’ve felt to win back to back in that environment back in the day. I almost asked Larry if Tex gained respect from his white peers for his achievement, but I decided it was a stupid question for two reasons. Reason one being, most likely not. Reason two being, ultimately he didn’t/shouldn't excel in his craft for white acceptance. So often that has been the route that black people have to take to gain some level of humanity by society. That said, that conversation about Tex led into another about the origin of rodeos. Coming into the tour I knew a few things here and there about the origins of Black cowboys. When Larry asked me where the word cowboy came from I was on it. When he asked me about the development of soul food I was on it. And when he asked me how rodeos started I thought I was about to kill the answer again, but my answer was so far from the truth. When asked I responded saying that the cowboys (slaves) would play games with cattle and their “superiors” would see them and decided to adopt the games for monetary gain. Larry laughed in my face as if the picture I painted was straight out of children's novel. He proceeded to show and tell me about how rodeos were born out of the torture and humiliation of Black men. 

Above is a photo of cars surrounding a Black man on a bull. Back in the day they would put a slave on a bull and surround them with horses (pre car automation) and cars, well into the 1920s. They forced slaves to ride bulls until they got bucked off! What kind of sick shit is that? My jaw dropped when Larry showed me this photo. It makes all the sense in the world why he looked at me like I wrote in a submission for a Pixar villain when he asked me how rodeos started. The practice of bucking slaves off bulls was the origin of what eventually got restructured into what we know as bull riding today. It feels like every time you learn about Black people and our contribution to culture and industry, brutality is always present. The advancement of gynecology was founded by using slave women as test subjects. To make matters worse they didn't give them anesthesia when they performed surgery. We have contributed to the American military since its inception. We were put on the frontline to fight for the advancement of the country that enslaved us. Lastly, the birth of Hip-Hop is especially dark. The genre was born out of the material condition Black people were in due to the effects of slavery. The oppression we were still facing 110 years later is essentially what inspired the genre. The Black experience is one that is riddled with struggle and oppression. Yes, there is a lot of happiness and honest positivity that comes from us, but so much of our history since we were BROUGHT here is a story of violence through policing, rape, access to ownership, general existence, education, disenfranchment, profiling, unlawful sentencing, etc. What I consider to be one of the worst acts of violence is the ongoing narrative that it’s our fault and we need to get it together. To believe that you have to hold zero empathy and understanding of what slavery, Jim Crow, the war on drugs, and any other post slavery oppression can do to a community.

Ah man, that was heavy wasn’t it? Anyway, I can’t have a conversation about Black cowboys without getting into the reality of what it’s like to be Black in America. Brother, the struggle hasn’t stopped since we got here. It personally feels like a curse that’s passed down to every generation of Black person who dares to exist. You can ignore it, you can choose to fight against it (as you should) but it’s ever present no matter how you decide to feel about it. After this visit with Larry it really added to my perspective. Nice, very cool little necessary tangent we just went on. Happy Black History Month, these conversations are important. Overall my experience at the Black Cowboy museum was enlightening. No matter the niche, all of black history is just that. Black people have contributed to western culture and for that reason I think we should start to embrace those aesthetics more and make it in our own way. Alright, thank you for tuning into the first Dozer blog for the Dozer magazine!

Remember if you aren’t Black there’s no reason for that word to come out of your mouth. Ever.

Pictures below:

-Mother's likeness

-Plantation Patrol badge

-Tex Williams

The story of this wooden sculpture is short but impactful. There was a man who was enslaved and his mother had just died. He didn't want to forget his mother's face so he wanted to carve her likeness into wood. He asked for a knife but the man who bought him wouldn't give him one. He was then left with an axe as an instrument to make this sculpture. This is the product. This is the product of resilience and a NEED to preserve what/who you love by any means necessary. This story is sad but every time I look at this sculpture of this woman smiling, all I can do is think of the emotions her son had when making it.

This is a plantation police badge. Police protect capital interests and the interest of the ruling class. Since slaves were capital they were the key for the monetary gain of capital owners. There was a constant fear of slaves revolting, so plantation police would lets say deter them from revolting or running away. As a black person in this country it's really easy to feel trapped. I can only imagine how inescapable living on a plantation was.

Hell yeah! Tex Williams!

Photo Credits:

Black Cowboy Museum

Black Planet (Solange)

Justinian Mason