November 21, 2025 • 25 mins
Vanessa Tyler takes a deep dive into the history of Black cowboy culture.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As a cowboy. You know, I feel proud. I think
my kids feel proud to be cowboys, cowgirls, black.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And proud cowboys style.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
I've been a cowboy home.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
My line, I would say, as long as you have
it in your heart, you can be a cowboy.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Black people, the OC's original cowboys.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
You should have seen the expression on his face. He said,
Oh my god, there really are black cowboys and cowgirls.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
The real history of black cowboys and cowgirls, black and
country cowboy culture right now on black Land and now.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
As a brown person who just feels so invisible where.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
We're from, brothers and sisters, I welcome you to this
joyful and day.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
We celebrate freedom.
Speaker 7 (00:49):
Where we are.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I know someone's heard something.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
And where we're going.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 8 (00:58):
The Black Information Networks resents black Land with your host
Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
We're down on the family farm with will black cowboys
and a cowgirl the Hook's family, Dad, Marvin, son, Julian
and daughter Leanna.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Hello guys, Hi, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
All three live the cowboy lifestyle in Flemington, New Jersey,
where there is enough land for farming.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
We have goats, cows, we have these deckster cows, these
and miniature cows that you know, people are small, uh,
you know, farms find themselves going at this after these
types of you know animals. These are small you know cows,
they're they're just a little maybe half the size as
a regular count, but they're you know, the meat is good,
(01:50):
the milk is good. They're just a good, you know,
animal to have. And also the pigs, the chickens, you
have the fresh eggs if you want. And also we
grow with a little garden, so we grow things, you
know that we need. We have fruit trees on our property.
We have Asian pear trees, black walnuts or per simmons.
(02:10):
So we have a pretty much a lot of you know,
variety of livestock and vegetation on the property. It's just
a way of living that we enjoy. We enjoy working outside,
we enjoy nature, we enjoy animals. All those things come
together hard work, of course, all those things come together,
(02:30):
and those are things that attracted us to this type
of lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Julian, you're twenty two years old. Being a cowboy. Is
that something that you wanted to do as a young man.
How does that fit into today's twenty two year olds well.
Speaker 9 (02:47):
I mean, I would say it's definitely a conversation piece.
Anybody ever asked me like how it is to live
on a farm, I can definitely always talk for hours
about it. When you ask, like if it's something like
that I wanted to do, I wouldn't say it's something
I've always dreamed of doing, but it definitely is something
that I enjoy and found a lot of like fulfillment
(03:09):
and enjoyment. And you can definitely learn a lot about
life working on a farm, tending to animals and learning
from them as well as you know, going within yourself
while you help the farm grow.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Being a cowgirl right now, I gotta tell you it's
quite popular. Let's thank Beyonce for that, right. What do
you think of all this attention that cowgirls are now getting.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I think it's fun.
Speaker 7 (03:38):
You know. After Beyonce dropped her album, it made me
kind of want to wear my cowboy hat, you know,
around a bit to kind of show that I really
am a cowgirl. And I think it's fun and just
to be able to embrace a different side of me.
It's it's nice.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, you're twenty five. What does being a cowgirl mean?
I know your dad mentioned her work, So what does
it really mean.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Well, for me, I'd say it's more of taking care
of the animals. My dad and my brother are the
ones who really enjoy riding the horses, so I'm more
of a I'll give them snack, brush their hair out.
But for me, yeah, it's enjoying the outdoors. It's it's
feeding the animals, and it's just having fun.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But this black family is living a double life because
about sixty one miles away Brooklyn, New York, is where
the family lives as well.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So I'm an entrepreneur at heart. So I've always I'm
a young person. When I say young, probably like a
young teenager. I've always, you know, been attracted to business.
And so of course that's several businesses in my lifetime.
And we have a couple, like the family farm is
a business. Also have a we have a franchise, my
(04:56):
daughter and son and I we have a franchise. And
I also passed the church and yeah, so we do
quite a few things to kind of balance life out.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Also the church, doctor Marvin Hook's pastors is in Brooklyn.
You can say he leads a flock literally and spiritually.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I always hear people say, oh, you're doing too much,
but I don't feel I'm doing much. I feel like
I'm doing what I want to do. I think I'm
contributing in a huge way to my community, my communities,
my family as well. So I find the balance in
just doing what I think God gave me the ability
to do. And I'm multi. You know, I have a
(05:39):
lot of gifts, and I can do a lot of
things and you know, walking through them at the same time,
and I feel that it's not overwhelming, not overburden. I
just find peace and the things I do in life,
so it works out.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
But this chosen life of discipline, hard work, old fashioned
values all under a ten gallon cowboy hack. You know,
people your age would be in a club or.
Speaker 9 (06:03):
Something right, and you know that is true. I mean
I try not to miss out on farm like the
farm lifestyle or like just I would say, quote unquote
normal lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You know, I don't let really the two things interfered.
Speaker 9 (06:22):
And of course, like I bring like people from like
people I'm close with my friends to experience like the farm,
the farm life, and they always enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I think about young people, especially young men your age,
in the violence. I mean, obviously you already know would
that change them if they lived that kind of lifestyle.
Speaker 9 (06:44):
You know, I'm glad you asked that, because I think
it really is a good release, you know for a
lot of the emotions that I mean, young men feel,
just being out in the fresh air, being being able
to to channel your physicality into something besides violence, into
(07:05):
into work, into training animals, into maybe something as even
as advances riding horses. It definitely, uh does create a
very important release that a lot of people don't have
access to. And I do think that, yes, I do
think that if people, if more people were introduced to
(07:25):
the farm life like I was, they definitely would there
definitely would be a decrease in violence.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yes, you know when people say us on our horses,
for example, even say they'll ask us, you know, who
owns those horses, and we always say, well, we own them.
We we don't these are our horses, because there's uh
the assumption that you know, we don't own horses or
can own them. But you know, owning, you know, your
own property, owning, you know, livestock. It's just it's just
(07:50):
a really liberating thing to do.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
When it's time to settle up and tell the real
history of cow boys. We can count on Larry Kallis.
The cowboy life is his passion and his mission to
make sure we know our history. Larry callus Howdy and welcome.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Howdy, Thank you for Heaven.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Larry Kallis owns the nation's only black cowboy museum. It's
located in Rosenberg, Texas, about half hour from Houston.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Did you know blacksman singing country music in eighteen fifties?
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I did not, what I'm skinned of me.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
You can look him up. His names Johotte Willis. He's
a singing cow from Texas.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Callus has a voice condition. He used to be a
country singer. Says he had the same manager as popular
white country artist George Strait and shared the same band
with another country music star, Clint Black, but now with
his vocal dysfunction. Larry Callis says the idea of a
museum dedicated to black cowboys came from above.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
God asked me to open up a black cowboy museum.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
I didn't want to do it. I wanted to be
a country petson singer, but I was my boys in
God asked me to open up a black cowboy museum.
I say, God, I can't even talk. Why do you
want me to open up book A black cowboy museum?
He said, step out eating faith. That's when I stepped
(09:25):
in faith. I even wrote a book call Here Comes.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Larry Klus step out in Faith and it's seven like hotcakes.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
His book, Here Comes Larry Kallis, Stepping out in Faith.
And for the record, cowboys were originally black men.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
A white man in eighteen hundreds would be called a
cowboy because they had a house a Jordan and it
worked at.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Cow Then they changed it to houseboy, yard boy, and cowboy.
Kallis's uncle, uncle Willie born June nineteenth, nineteen nineteen in
El Campbo, Texas, always gave wise advice.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He said, you better not call the white man the cowboy.
And back in eighteen hundreds, you had to be black
to be a cowboy.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You a longman on outlaw.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Been of both.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
I reckon.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
That's a clip from the TV mini series about Bass Reeves,
the first black US marshall known and feared in the
Upper Midwest Territory.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
He was a legend. They put him on a region.
They said, I'm gonna tell you to start. You heard
of the lone ranger. Yes, Bass Reeves was a real
bone ranger, and he was black. He was black. He
was moon a slate. In eighteen thirty eight, when he
turned fifteen, he hit it master. He knocked him out.
(10:59):
He knew about sudden death, so he stole the master's
horse and he rode Oklahoma. He got in with the Indians.
They took it here for twenty years. In eighteen sixty five,
when the slaves were free, he went to Oklahoma to
be a US Marusian. He went to the hand judge
(11:21):
Judge Parker. He said, I want to be a US marshal.
Judge Parker said, you've got to know how to read
and write to be a US marshal. He said, I
can't do me. Judge Parker knew that because it was
the illegal to teach a slave to read and write.
So he said, but I got a good memory. Judge
(11:43):
Parker said, Okay, go get these five people. He named
each one of them. He told them where they live,
He told him everything about him. He remembered everything. He said,
you have two months to him, and you can bring.
Speaker 8 (12:03):
Them back dead or lie. He didn't like to kill people,
so he caught all five I mean he brought him
back alive. I mean three weeks.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
They made a us morsh.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
The story of Cowboy turned to us Marshall. Boss Reeves
on the radio was riveting. He captured three thousand convicts.
Then it got out Boss Reeves was black, and the
white listeners lost it.
Speaker 8 (12:30):
Oh lord, when they said it was a black man,
he had one hundred phone calls saying they wouldn't want
to listen to radio station.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
The man said why, he said, because you said the
Lone Ranger was a black man. He said, no, no, no,
I didn't say it was a black man. I say
he wore a black mass. So in nineteen fifty when.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
Inventit the TV, they wanted to put past Reefs on
the TV, but they knew they wouldn't get at scepty,
so it they put a white man with a black
mask on.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
The long.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So when the popular show was put on American television
from nineteen forty nine to nineteen fifty seven, the Lone
Ranger had to be white. And when Hollywood took over
the hell.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
I'm looking at a tin star with a.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Drunk pin on it in popular movies starring Mega Hollywood
made Cowboy John Wayne, you didn't see black cowboys cut
from the big screen, almost cut out of history.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
We've been lied too one hundred years.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
That's where his Black Cowboys Museum comes in. There are
photos of real cowboys, a saddle from the eighteen hundreds,
a sword from a Buffalo soldier, that group of black
men hired by the US Army to battle the Indians,
with hair like a buffalo and the strength of a
buffalo too. Kalla says, like yesterday, many of today's cowboys
(14:15):
ride in rodeos.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
There we go again. Bill Picky Rodeo has been thrilling
audiences for four decades.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
We just actually impact rodeo events honoring the traditional adradios called.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Cowboys aulture the Bill Picket Rodeo where black cowboys show up.
They're riding, roping, wrangling skills. Valeria Howard Cunningham is the
heart and soul of the Bill Picket Invitational Rodeo, also
known as the greatest show on Dirt for decades.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Well, the Bill Picket, as you know, is celebrating our
fortieth anniversary. So we operate with four and five generations
boys and cowgirls that have been traveling with the Bill
Picket invitational robeo across the United States. Some of our contestants,
(15:12):
you know, I remember when they were in their mother's stomach,
you know, and they have grown up with the Bill
picket and now they are competing. So we have cowboys
and cowgirls from all over the United States that travel
with us.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
We have.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Members that join the organization new each year, and then
we have members that have been with us for the
whole time. What's important to us as an organization is
that we also groom our young kids to have a
(15:54):
safe place to perform and learn and show case their
skills as they are developing to become champions. We have
young kids as young as three years old that compete
in our rodeos, and then we have some contestants that
(16:15):
are as old as in their sixties that compete.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I'm just wondering what's common like there is there are
there common characteristics for people who are part of this organization.
Certainly it's family as generational as you said, but it's
more like a lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Would you be able to talk and address that. Absolutely,
it is a lifestyle. These cowboys and cowgirls, they're passionate
about what they do. They may have other jobs. We
have nurses, we have attorneys, we have corporate managers. We
(16:56):
have people that do a lot of different professional jobs.
But on the weekends they are rodeo ready. They own farms,
they have horses, they love animals, and they love rodeo,
(17:17):
so they are committed to it and this is part
of their life.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
The rodeo named after Bill Pickett, a writer like no other.
He had a signature style bulldogging, his steer to submission.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Bill Pickett whilst a cowboy back in the late eighteen hundreds.
He had a skill and he created a rodeo event
that's called steer wrestling or bulldogging. He is the one
(17:51):
who created that event. But nobody knows anything about Bill Pickett.
He was a ranch in he worked in Oklahoma, and
his brothers were very good at entertaining crowds. So Bill
Pickett starting some films back then.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Instead of letting him ride off into the sunset, Her
late husband louveras On, helped keep his name alive with
a rodeo.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Nobody talked about Bill Pickett and knew who Bill Pickett was.
Louva's son as he was studying about the Blacks and
the development of the West, said you know what, we
need to give Bill Pickett his due and his credit.
So he went and found the Picket family and got
(18:46):
permission from them to name the Rodeo Association after Bill Pickett.
So that's how Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo evolved.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
So one of the.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Reasons my late husband decided to create this Rodeo Association
is he wanted to educate the communities about the blacks
in the development of the West and also to showcase
that there are thousands of black cowboys and cowgirls that
(19:25):
actually compete in rodeo. So what we have done is
brought all of that together, traveled around the United States
to thirty four different cities, educating people about blacks and.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Rodeo and what an education to see them ride.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
We have a bareback and ranchbrock riding. We have tied
down roping, steer wrestling, ladies, bear racing, lady steering, decorating ladies,
breakaway and bull riding. And then we do not leave
our kids out, so we have the Junior bear Racing
(20:10):
Pee Wee bear Racing. We also have the Junior Breakaway
and it's important to us that we include our kids
and teach them skills while they are early so that
they can become the future champions in the rodeo world.
(20:31):
So we believe we have to tell our own history,
and that's what we do every time we rodeo.
Speaker 11 (20:38):
We tell our history today, of the past and current,
because there are so many black cowboys and cowgirls today
that are making history every day that they perform.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Valeria Howard Cunningham believes her Bill Pickett invitation of Rodeo
would be just what's needed to steer our kids from
crime and wrangle them in the right direction.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
We have a nonprofit organization and we believe we should
get back to every community that gives to us, so
we embrace our communities. We do different workshops in different
cities about anti violence, bringing young men in and talking
(21:26):
to them about different options that they have. We do
different workshops trying to introduce our young teenagers to what
agriculture is all about and the career opportunities that exists
(21:47):
within the USDA. So we are trying to embrace our
youth by educating them on different opportunities and different ways
to approach things. You know, a lot of people come
to our rodeos their parents either write or call and
(22:10):
say we can't believe we just saw a five year
old competing or riding those big horses. How can we
get our kids involved in that? Are there a call
and say we don't like you very much right now?
Because every since we left your rodeo, our kid has
(22:32):
been saying, I want a horse, I want to learn
how to ride. So what we do is try to
connect those people with local community organizations where their kids
can learn how to embrace the animals and learn how
to ride.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
She says, to see the looks on the faces of
first timers, she still tells the story of a little
boy who touched her soul.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You should have.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Said the expression on his face. He said, oh my god,
there really are black cowboys and cowgirls. And I happen
to be standing there and tears just came down my face.
(23:19):
Because that's what it's all about, teaching our communities that
black cowboys and black cowgirls are real. And we have
been doing that for forty years.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
See the rodeo. It will be in Fort Worth, Texas,
May eighteenth, then back in June for June teenth, Oakland
and La in July, Georgia.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
In August, we identify our top ten winners from each
event and they are invited to our national finals in Washington, DC,
and that is on September the twenty first. That's where
we crown our twenty twenty four champions for the year.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Valaria Howard Cunningham, thank you for joining us and see
you at the rodeo.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Thank you, and I look forward to it, and remember
we are the greatest show on dirt.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
For the Hooks family, hard work, love of the land,
faith and family remain strong. It's in them. And when
Julian who is twenty two, and Leona twenty five, start
their own families, they just might keep the cowboy culture.
Speaker 9 (24:35):
Well, I'm not sure about that yet, but I'll definitely
start small, you know, build up, build up. If I
end up, you know, enjoying the lifestyle like for myself,
and I'll see where it goes. Like I said, I
do think living this type of lifestyle can create a
lot of good lessons, So I definitely I can definitely
(24:58):
see it.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
I feel like I agree with Julian, and I'll probably
start small. One of the first animals we got was
a baby goat, and you'd be surprised at how intelligent
gotar and how much of a pin cannon animal. They
are almost helparently to a dog, so I probably see
how my family feels about it. And if they're as
chashm it as you know Julian and I are, i'd
say I do it as well.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Will you marry a cowboy? Will you find.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
Maybe so?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Maybe so?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Well the Hook's family.
Speaker 7 (25:31):
Yes, what a.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Pleasure to meet all of you. Happy trails, oh, happy trails,
and thank you. I'm Vanessa Tyler. Be sure to like
and subscribe to black Land on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
As a cowboy. You know, I feel proud. I think
my kids feel proud to be cowboys, cowgirls, black.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And proud cowboys style.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
I've been a cowboy home.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
My line, I would say, as long as you have
it in your heart, you can be a cowboy.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Black people, the OC's original cowboys.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
You should have seen the expression on his face. He said,
Oh my god, there really are black cowboys and cowgirls.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
The real history of black cowboys and cowgirls, black and
country cowboy culture right now on black Land and now.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
As a brown person who just feels so invisible where.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
We're from, brothers and sisters, I welcome you to this
joyful and day.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
We celebrate freedom.
Speaker 7 (00:49):
Where we are.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I know someone's heard something.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
And where we're going.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 8 (00:58):
The Black Information Networks resents black Land with your host
Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
We're down on the family farm with will black cowboys
and a cowgirl the Hook's family, Dad, Marvin, son, Julian
and daughter Leanna.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Hello guys, Hi, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
All three live the cowboy lifestyle in Flemington, New Jersey,
where there is enough land for farming.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
We have goats, cows, we have these deckster cows, these
and miniature cows that you know, people are small, uh,
you know, farms find themselves going at this after these
types of you know animals. These are small you know cows,
they're they're just a little maybe half the size as
a regular count, but they're you know, the meat is good,
(01:50):
the milk is good. They're just a good, you know,
animal to have. And also the pigs, the chickens, you
have the fresh eggs if you want. And also we
grow with a little garden, so we grow things, you
know that we need. We have fruit trees on our property.
We have Asian pear trees, black walnuts or per simmons.
(02:10):
So we have a pretty much a lot of you know,
variety of livestock and vegetation on the property. It's just
a way of living that we enjoy. We enjoy working outside,
we enjoy nature, we enjoy animals. All those things come
together hard work, of course, all those things come together,
(02:30):
and those are things that attracted us to this type
of lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Julian, you're twenty two years old. Being a cowboy. Is
that something that you wanted to do as a young man.
How does that fit into today's twenty two year olds well.
Speaker 9 (02:47):
I mean, I would say it's definitely a conversation piece.
Anybody ever asked me like how it is to live
on a farm, I can definitely always talk for hours
about it. When you ask, like if it's something like
that I wanted to do, I wouldn't say it's something
I've always dreamed of doing, but it definitely is something
that I enjoy and found a lot of like fulfillment
(03:09):
and enjoyment. And you can definitely learn a lot about
life working on a farm, tending to animals and learning
from them as well as you know, going within yourself
while you help the farm grow.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Being a cowgirl right now, I gotta tell you it's
quite popular. Let's thank Beyonce for that, right. What do
you think of all this attention that cowgirls are now getting.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I think it's fun.
Speaker 7 (03:38):
You know. After Beyonce dropped her album, it made me
kind of want to wear my cowboy hat, you know,
around a bit to kind of show that I really
am a cowgirl. And I think it's fun and just
to be able to embrace a different side of me.
It's it's nice.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, you're twenty five. What does being a cowgirl mean?
I know your dad mentioned her work, So what does
it really mean.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Well, for me, I'd say it's more of taking care
of the animals. My dad and my brother are the
ones who really enjoy riding the horses, so I'm more
of a I'll give them snack, brush their hair out.
But for me, yeah, it's enjoying the outdoors. It's it's
feeding the animals, and it's just having fun.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But this black family is living a double life because
about sixty one miles away Brooklyn, New York, is where
the family lives as well.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So I'm an entrepreneur at heart. So I've always I'm
a young person. When I say young, probably like a
young teenager. I've always, you know, been attracted to business.
And so of course that's several businesses in my lifetime.
And we have a couple, like the family farm is
a business. Also have a we have a franchise, my
(04:56):
daughter and son and I we have a franchise. And
I also passed the church and yeah, so we do
quite a few things to kind of balance life out.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Also the church, doctor Marvin Hook's pastors is in Brooklyn.
You can say he leads a flock literally and spiritually.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I always hear people say, oh, you're doing too much,
but I don't feel I'm doing much. I feel like
I'm doing what I want to do. I think I'm
contributing in a huge way to my community, my communities,
my family as well. So I find the balance in
just doing what I think God gave me the ability
to do. And I'm multi. You know, I have a
(05:39):
lot of gifts, and I can do a lot of
things and you know, walking through them at the same time,
and I feel that it's not overwhelming, not overburden. I
just find peace and the things I do in life,
so it works out.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
But this chosen life of discipline, hard work, old fashioned
values all under a ten gallon cowboy hack. You know,
people your age would be in a club or.
Speaker 9 (06:03):
Something right, and you know that is true. I mean
I try not to miss out on farm like the
farm lifestyle or like just I would say, quote unquote
normal lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You know, I don't let really the two things interfered.
Speaker 9 (06:22):
And of course, like I bring like people from like
people I'm close with my friends to experience like the farm,
the farm life, and they always enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I think about young people, especially young men your age,
in the violence. I mean, obviously you already know would
that change them if they lived that kind of lifestyle.
Speaker 9 (06:44):
You know, I'm glad you asked that, because I think
it really is a good release, you know for a
lot of the emotions that I mean, young men feel,
just being out in the fresh air, being being able
to to channel your physicality into something besides violence, into
(07:05):
into work, into training animals, into maybe something as even
as advances riding horses. It definitely, uh does create a
very important release that a lot of people don't have
access to. And I do think that, yes, I do
think that if people, if more people were introduced to
(07:25):
the farm life like I was, they definitely would there
definitely would be a decrease in violence.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yes, you know when people say us on our horses,
for example, even say they'll ask us, you know, who
owns those horses, and we always say, well, we own them.
We we don't these are our horses, because there's uh
the assumption that you know, we don't own horses or
can own them. But you know, owning, you know, your
own property, owning, you know, livestock. It's just it's just
(07:50):
a really liberating thing to do.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
When it's time to settle up and tell the real
history of cow boys. We can count on Larry Kallis.
The cowboy life is his passion and his mission to
make sure we know our history. Larry callus Howdy and welcome.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Howdy, Thank you for Heaven.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Larry Kallis owns the nation's only black cowboy museum. It's
located in Rosenberg, Texas, about half hour from Houston.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Did you know blacksman singing country music in eighteen fifties?
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I did not, what I'm skinned of me.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
You can look him up. His names Johotte Willis. He's
a singing cow from Texas.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Callus has a voice condition. He used to be a
country singer. Says he had the same manager as popular
white country artist George Strait and shared the same band
with another country music star, Clint Black, but now with
his vocal dysfunction. Larry Callis says the idea of a
museum dedicated to black cowboys came from above.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
God asked me to open up a black cowboy museum.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
I didn't want to do it. I wanted to be
a country petson singer, but I was my boys in
God asked me to open up a black cowboy museum.
I say, God, I can't even talk. Why do you
want me to open up book A black cowboy museum?
He said, step out eating faith. That's when I stepped
(09:25):
in faith. I even wrote a book call Here Comes.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Larry Klus step out in Faith and it's seven like hotcakes.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
His book, Here Comes Larry Kallis, Stepping out in Faith.
And for the record, cowboys were originally black men.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
A white man in eighteen hundreds would be called a
cowboy because they had a house a Jordan and it
worked at.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Cow Then they changed it to houseboy, yard boy, and cowboy.
Kallis's uncle, uncle Willie born June nineteenth, nineteen nineteen in
El Campbo, Texas, always gave wise advice.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He said, you better not call the white man the cowboy.
And back in eighteen hundreds, you had to be black
to be a cowboy.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You a longman on outlaw.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Been of both.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
I reckon.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
That's a clip from the TV mini series about Bass Reeves,
the first black US marshall known and feared in the
Upper Midwest Territory.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
He was a legend. They put him on a region.
They said, I'm gonna tell you to start. You heard
of the lone ranger. Yes, Bass Reeves was a real
bone ranger, and he was black. He was black. He
was moon a slate. In eighteen thirty eight, when he
turned fifteen, he hit it master. He knocked him out.
(10:59):
He knew about sudden death, so he stole the master's
horse and he rode Oklahoma. He got in with the Indians.
They took it here for twenty years. In eighteen sixty five,
when the slaves were free, he went to Oklahoma to
be a US Marusian. He went to the hand judge
(11:21):
Judge Parker. He said, I want to be a US marshal.
Judge Parker said, you've got to know how to read
and write to be a US marshal. He said, I
can't do me. Judge Parker knew that because it was
the illegal to teach a slave to read and write.
So he said, but I got a good memory. Judge
(11:43):
Parker said, Okay, go get these five people. He named
each one of them. He told them where they live,
He told him everything about him. He remembered everything. He said,
you have two months to him, and you can bring.
Speaker 8 (12:03):
Them back dead or lie. He didn't like to kill people,
so he caught all five I mean he brought him
back alive. I mean three weeks.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
They made a us morsh.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
The story of Cowboy turned to us Marshall. Boss Reeves
on the radio was riveting. He captured three thousand convicts.
Then it got out Boss Reeves was black, and the
white listeners lost it.
Speaker 8 (12:30):
Oh lord, when they said it was a black man,
he had one hundred phone calls saying they wouldn't want
to listen to radio station.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
The man said why, he said, because you said the
Lone Ranger was a black man. He said, no, no, no,
I didn't say it was a black man. I say
he wore a black mass. So in nineteen fifty when.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
Inventit the TV, they wanted to put past Reefs on
the TV, but they knew they wouldn't get at scepty,
so it they put a white man with a black
mask on.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
The long.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So when the popular show was put on American television
from nineteen forty nine to nineteen fifty seven, the Lone
Ranger had to be white. And when Hollywood took over
the hell.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
I'm looking at a tin star with a.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Drunk pin on it in popular movies starring Mega Hollywood
made Cowboy John Wayne, you didn't see black cowboys cut
from the big screen, almost cut out of history.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
We've been lied too one hundred years.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
That's where his Black Cowboys Museum comes in. There are
photos of real cowboys, a saddle from the eighteen hundreds,
a sword from a Buffalo soldier, that group of black
men hired by the US Army to battle the Indians,
with hair like a buffalo and the strength of a
buffalo too. Kalla says, like yesterday, many of today's cowboys
(14:15):
ride in rodeos.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
There we go again. Bill Picky Rodeo has been thrilling
audiences for four decades.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
We just actually impact rodeo events honoring the traditional adradios called.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Cowboys aulture the Bill Picket Rodeo where black cowboys show up.
They're riding, roping, wrangling skills. Valeria Howard Cunningham is the
heart and soul of the Bill Picket Invitational Rodeo, also
known as the greatest show on Dirt for decades.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Well, the Bill Picket, as you know, is celebrating our
fortieth anniversary. So we operate with four and five generations
boys and cowgirls that have been traveling with the Bill
Picket invitational robeo across the United States. Some of our contestants,
(15:12):
you know, I remember when they were in their mother's stomach,
you know, and they have grown up with the Bill
picket and now they are competing. So we have cowboys
and cowgirls from all over the United States that travel
with us.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
We have.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Members that join the organization new each year, and then
we have members that have been with us for the
whole time. What's important to us as an organization is
that we also groom our young kids to have a
(15:54):
safe place to perform and learn and show case their
skills as they are developing to become champions. We have
young kids as young as three years old that compete
in our rodeos, and then we have some contestants that
(16:15):
are as old as in their sixties that compete.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I'm just wondering what's common like there is there are
there common characteristics for people who are part of this organization.
Certainly it's family as generational as you said, but it's
more like a lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Would you be able to talk and address that. Absolutely,
it is a lifestyle. These cowboys and cowgirls, they're passionate
about what they do. They may have other jobs. We
have nurses, we have attorneys, we have corporate managers. We
(16:56):
have people that do a lot of different professional jobs.
But on the weekends they are rodeo ready. They own farms,
they have horses, they love animals, and they love rodeo,
(17:17):
so they are committed to it and this is part
of their life.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
The rodeo named after Bill Pickett, a writer like no other.
He had a signature style bulldogging, his steer to submission.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Bill Pickett whilst a cowboy back in the late eighteen hundreds.
He had a skill and he created a rodeo event
that's called steer wrestling or bulldogging. He is the one
(17:51):
who created that event. But nobody knows anything about Bill Pickett.
He was a ranch in he worked in Oklahoma, and
his brothers were very good at entertaining crowds. So Bill
Pickett starting some films back then.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Instead of letting him ride off into the sunset, Her
late husband louveras On, helped keep his name alive with
a rodeo.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Nobody talked about Bill Pickett and knew who Bill Pickett was.
Louva's son as he was studying about the Blacks and
the development of the West, said you know what, we
need to give Bill Pickett his due and his credit.
So he went and found the Picket family and got
(18:46):
permission from them to name the Rodeo Association after Bill Pickett.
So that's how Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo evolved.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
So one of the.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Reasons my late husband decided to create this Rodeo Association
is he wanted to educate the communities about the blacks
in the development of the West and also to showcase
that there are thousands of black cowboys and cowgirls that
(19:25):
actually compete in rodeo. So what we have done is
brought all of that together, traveled around the United States
to thirty four different cities, educating people about blacks and.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Rodeo and what an education to see them ride.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
We have a bareback and ranchbrock riding. We have tied
down roping, steer wrestling, ladies, bear racing, lady steering, decorating ladies,
breakaway and bull riding. And then we do not leave
our kids out, so we have the Junior bear Racing
(20:10):
Pee Wee bear Racing. We also have the Junior Breakaway
and it's important to us that we include our kids
and teach them skills while they are early so that
they can become the future champions in the rodeo world.
(20:31):
So we believe we have to tell our own history,
and that's what we do every time we rodeo.
Speaker 11 (20:38):
We tell our history today, of the past and current,
because there are so many black cowboys and cowgirls today
that are making history every day that they perform.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Valeria Howard Cunningham believes her Bill Pickett invitation of Rodeo
would be just what's needed to steer our kids from
crime and wrangle them in the right direction.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
We have a nonprofit organization and we believe we should
get back to every community that gives to us, so
we embrace our communities. We do different workshops in different
cities about anti violence, bringing young men in and talking
(21:26):
to them about different options that they have. We do
different workshops trying to introduce our young teenagers to what
agriculture is all about and the career opportunities that exists
(21:47):
within the USDA. So we are trying to embrace our
youth by educating them on different opportunities and different ways
to approach things. You know, a lot of people come
to our rodeos their parents either write or call and
(22:10):
say we can't believe we just saw a five year
old competing or riding those big horses. How can we
get our kids involved in that? Are there a call
and say we don't like you very much right now?
Because every since we left your rodeo, our kid has
(22:32):
been saying, I want a horse, I want to learn
how to ride. So what we do is try to
connect those people with local community organizations where their kids
can learn how to embrace the animals and learn how
to ride.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
She says, to see the looks on the faces of
first timers, she still tells the story of a little
boy who touched her soul.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You should have.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Said the expression on his face. He said, oh my god,
there really are black cowboys and cowgirls. And I happen
to be standing there and tears just came down my face.
(23:19):
Because that's what it's all about, teaching our communities that
black cowboys and black cowgirls are real. And we have
been doing that for forty years.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
See the rodeo. It will be in Fort Worth, Texas,
May eighteenth, then back in June for June teenth, Oakland
and La in July, Georgia.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
In August, we identify our top ten winners from each
event and they are invited to our national finals in Washington, DC,
and that is on September the twenty first. That's where
we crown our twenty twenty four champions for the year.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Valaria Howard Cunningham, thank you for joining us and see
you at the rodeo.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Thank you, and I look forward to it, and remember
we are the greatest show on dirt.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
For the Hooks family, hard work, love of the land,
faith and family remain strong. It's in them. And when
Julian who is twenty two, and Leona twenty five, start
their own families, they just might keep the cowboy culture.
Speaker 9 (24:35):
Well, I'm not sure about that yet, but I'll definitely
start small, you know, build up, build up. If I
end up, you know, enjoying the lifestyle like for myself,
and I'll see where it goes. Like I said, I
do think living this type of lifestyle can create a
lot of good lessons, So I definitely I can definitely
(24:58):
see it.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
I feel like I agree with Julian, and I'll probably
start small. One of the first animals we got was
a baby goat, and you'd be surprised at how intelligent
gotar and how much of a pin cannon animal. They
are almost helparently to a dog, so I probably see
how my family feels about it. And if they're as
chashm it as you know Julian and I are, i'd
say I do it as well.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Will you marry a cowboy? Will you find.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
Maybe so?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Maybe so?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Well the Hook's family.
Speaker 7 (25:31):
Yes, what a.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Pleasure to meet all of you. Happy trails, oh, happy trails,
and thank you. I'm Vanessa Tyler. Be sure to like
and subscribe to black Land on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Vanessa Tyler
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