Bill Pickett Rodeo honors African American contributions to building the West
OAKLAND -- The Bill Pickett Rodeo has been around for 38 years, celebrating the contributions Black cowboys and cowgirls have made building the West.
Rodeo president and owner Valeria Howard-Cunningham says her late husband, Lu Vason, started it in 1984. She said Vason went to a rodeo show in Wyoming and noticed something.
"He didn't see any cowboys and cowgirls that look like us," said Howard-Cunningham
So Vason wanted to showcase the undeniable national appeal of black cowboys and cowgirls and that's what birthed this rodeo. She says Vason lived in Oakland decades and wanted his Bay Area community to have this rodeo experience.
"I was the businessperson," said Howard-Cunningham. "He was the visionary, the dreamer. He just wanted to take the rodeo everywhere and have everybody to experience."
Vason passed away in 2015, now Valeria is leading it. She says there are many horse people in Oakland, so this weekend's show is big in the East Bay. The cultural application in the community is what draws people to Bill Pickett year after year.
When Vason began the rodeo shows decades ago, Howard-Cunningham says one in four cowboys were Black.
"You don't get to see that! You don't see it in the movies, you don't see it on tv, you don't see it in the history books," said Howard-Cunningham. "So it is important to us to tell our own story and tell it correctly."
The Bill Pickett Rodeo will keep educating, entertaining, and showing Black cowboys and cowgirls do exist.
"There is more to us than just overcoming slavery," said Howard-Cunningham. "We developed the West. We developed this country. We have skills as cowboys and cowgirls and we can do anything that we want to do. that's why it's important."
She said there will also be a traveling museum at the rodeo, highlighting its contributions to the country's history.
The Bill Pickett Rodeo will be at Rowell Ranch Rodeo in Castro Valley Saturday and Sunday starting at 2:30 p.m.