The history of Black cowboys and cowgirls are kept alive in riding clubs and rodeos

The history of Black cowboys and cowgirls are kept alive in riding clubs and rodeos

Transcript¹

Black saddle clubs are found across the country, from rodeos to street protests, including protests for George Floyd. Black cowboys and cowgirls have a rich history in helping² to settle the West.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

African American artists have incorporated Wild West elements into their clothes and music. Thank Solange, Beyonce and Lil Nas X. Nick de la Canal of WFAE in Charlotte reports the history of Black cowboys and cowgirls is also being kept alive in riding clubs and rodeos around the country.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: All right. Y'all ready?

NICK DE LA CANAL, BYLINE³: Inside a dusty rodeo ring in the town of Love Valley, N.C., a half-dozen Black men and women on horses gallop⁴ around upright poles, as a crowd in hats and denim⁵ presses against the barriers.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Bring them home, Baby Joe (ph). Yes, sir.

(CHEERING)

DE LA CANAL: Two women hold clipboards and monitor a table stacked with trophies⁶. They're members of a local cowgirl club from Charlotte. And they organized this rodeo.

ANGIE SIMMONS: I'm Angie Simmons. And I'm the president of Sisters With Horses.

NAZIRAH MUHAMMAD: I am Nazirah Muhammad. And I'm the vice⁷ president.

DE LA CANAL: Simmons is a nurse. Muhammad is a security guard and medical transport. And they're also modern-day cowgirls. They ride and take care of horses and organize social events for the dozen or so other Black cowboy clubs around the Carolinas.

MUHAMMAD: Basically, we just want to get together, ride, have a good time. This is our relaxation⁸ for the weekend.

DE LA CANAL: Sometimes they ride on remote trails in the mountains or the coast. Occasionally, they saddle up for a trot⁹ through uptown Charlotte, where Simmons says her posse always gets a reaction.

SIMMONS: People were just amazed that a woman was on a horse, and not just that, just a woman of color.

DE LA CANAL: But maybe people shouldn't be so surprised, says Jim Austin. He's the co-founder of the National Multicultural¹⁰ Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

JIM AUSTIN: Most people believe that the West was all white cowboys.

DE LA CANAL: In fact, Austin says, many historians believe 1 in 3 cowboys were people of color.

AUSTIN: Black, Hispanic, Native American.

DE LA CANAL: Many were recently freed enslaved people migrating from the South. Austin says some were legends in their day, people like Stagecoach¹¹ Mary Fields.

AUSTIN: She rode the mountains of Montana, carrying the mail (laughter) for 10 years. And she started at 60 years old. And she could knock a guy out with one punch.

DE LA CANAL: There was also rodeo performer Bill Pickett, who invented the technique of bulldogging, which involves wrestling a steer¹² to the ground by its horns. And Austin says the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi was a man named Bass¹³ Reeves.

AUSTIN: He was a sharpshooter. He wore a Black hat. He had lived on Indian reservations, so his side partner was a Native American.

DE LA CANAL: He said to have arrested more than 3,000 people without ever getting shot. Most of today's Black cowboys aren't slinging¹⁴ guns or driving cattle, says Zaron Burnett, host of the iHeartRadio podcast "Black Cowboys." But they are keeping cowboy traditions alive in hundreds of riding clubs in African American rodeos across the U.S. And Burnett says they remain powerful figures.

ZARON BURNETT: So when you saw, like, the George Floyd protests, in Oakland, there were a lot of Black cowboys who came out on horseback to basically say, like, look; we've been here. We continue to be here. And this is who we are.

DE LA CANAL: Back at the Love Valley Rodeo, Jay Black leans back in a saddle.

JAY BLACK: My family had horses. My granddad had farm animals.

DE LA CANAL: That's why, the first chance he got, he bought his 6-year-old son, Jason, a pony¹⁵. And so far, Jason says, he's into it.

BLACK: They're very calming. I like them.

DE LA CANAL: Gwen Sutton says she isn't from a horse-riding family and had no idea there were Black cowboy clubs until her teenage son's friends took him to a stable.

GWEN SUTTON: He went to a barn and came back and said, Mom, can I get a horse?

DE LA CANAL: She found one pretty cheap.

SUTTON: And ever since then, he's been riding horses.

DE LA CANAL: She says she's glad her son got roped in with the cowboys. Now he has a community connecting him to African Americans of the Wild West. And he's on his way to keeping the traditions alive for yet another generation.

For NPR News, I'm Nick de la Canal in Love Valley, N.C.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIMON MARTIN PERKINS' "OLD TOWN ROAD - GUITAR INSTRUMENTAL")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gallop   

v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展

参考例句：

• They are coming at a gallop towards us.他们正朝着我们飞跑过来。
• The horse slowed to a walk after its long gallop.那匹马跑了一大阵后慢下来缓步而行。

5 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

6 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

9 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。

10 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

11 stagecoach   

n.公共马车

参考例句：

• She's getting off the stagecoach.她正在下马车。
• The stagecoach driver cracked the whip.驿站马车的车夫抽响了鞭子。

12 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

13 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

14 slinging   

抛( sling的现在分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• You're slinging mud at me -- that's a pack of lies! 你血口喷人，不讲道理。
• The boys were slinging stones into the river. 孩子们当时正往河里投石子。

15 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。