SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo rode into the East Bay last weekend to celebrate the U.S.' rich history of Black cowboys and cowgirls.
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The annual traveling American rodeo returned for its 38th year after a two year hiatus due to COVID-19.
This historically Black rodeo celebrates and honors contributions made to American history by African Americans who helped settle in the west.
Valeria Howard-Cunningham, who runs the rodeo, said many people would be surprised to know how many non-white cowboys there have been. "One in four cowboys in the old west were African American. You never hear that. You never see that anywhere in movies, television," she told KCBS Radio.
Howard-Cunningham's late husband started the Bill Pickett Memorial Traveling Rodeo after he went to a rodeo that only had white people. As a result, he decided to create an African American Rodeo Association in 1984.
Four generations of black cowboys and cowgirls have since grown up in the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo.
The Bay Area event was held in Castro Valley on Saturday and Sunday in front of sold out crowds at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Ground. Cunningham said her late husband would be proud to see what the rodeo’s become, especially in the Bay Area.
"Oakland had a very dear place in his heart," she said.
The traveling event will perform next weekend in Los Angeles, before flying east to Atlanta and the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area.
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