This upcoming rodeo at Hale Arena will revive a Kansas City tradition
The inaugural Kansas City Invitational Black Rodeo on July 26 at Hale Arena will revive a local tradition dating back more than 50 years.
Put on by Black Rodeo USA, the sold-out Kansas City Invitational is part of a recent resurgence of Black rodeos and the first major one locally in more than a decade. Black Rodeo USA is a newcomer to the movement that celebrates an occupation and lifestyle that is largely ignored in history books.
Black cowboys have plied their trade since the beginning of the U.S. cattle industry and were especially prevalent during the great cattle drives north from Texas to Kansas in the post-Civil War era. In fact, some historians estimate that a fourth of all cowboys were Black.
Although some became rodeo stars in the late 19th century, including the legendary Bill Pickett and Nat Love, many rodeos were restricted to white people, helping to spawn Black rodeos. Early ones were primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, but they became something of a national craze in the early 1970s.
Black rodeos took hold in Kansas City in the 1980s, with one at the American Royal Arena in 1980 and annual events at Benjamin Stables/Benjamin Ranch into the 1990s. Those were part of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo circuit, which dates to 1984 and is still going strong.
Benjamin Ranch also was home to Black rodeos put on by the Hilltop Saddle Club, of Kansas City, Kansas, until the facility shut down its arena in 2008 to make way for the Cerner Corp. office development.
We now appear to be entering a second golden age of Black rodeos.
The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo circuit, which calls itself “The Greatest Show on Dirt,” stages events in Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Atlanta and elsewhere.
Billing itself as “The Hottest Show on Dirt,” Black Rodeo USA went national in 2020 after operating the Arizona Black Rodeo since 2011. It had events earlier this year in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia, with upcoming rodeos in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Las Vegas. It also partners with the Okmulgee (Oklahoma) Roy LeBlanc Invitational Rodeo, the nation’s oldest Black rodeo, dating to 1956.
There are at least two other major Black rodeo promoters: the Cowboys of Color Rodeos in Texas and 8 Seconds Rodeo founded by Kansas City, Kansas, native Ivan McClellan in Portland, Oregon, and Philadelphia.
Kansas City Invitational Black Rodeo
When: Sessions at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 26
Where: Hale Arena at American Royal Center, 1701 American Royal Court, in the West Bottoms.
Tickets: Both sessions are sold out.
More information: blackrodeousa.com/tickets
