RED OAK, Texas — There is an old saying that seeing is believing -- and Wendell Hearn, a second-generation cowboy, has seen Black cowboys his whole life.
Hearn said he followed his father Cleo, who is a National Cowboy Hall of Famer and founder of Cowboys of Color, the largest multicultural rodeo in the world.
“There’s Black cowboys, Native Americans and Hispanics," Hearn said. "That’s why he started the Cowboys of Color to embrace all cultures that are part of the West,” Hearn said.
He said these cultures have long been excluded from Western stories.
“Black cowboys have been around since the start of the West,” Hearn explained. “One of the jobs for the slaves was actually working with the cows. That’s kind of where they say the name cowboy comes from.”
Hearn believes the exposure to Black cowboys starts with education as he said one in four cowboys in the United States are Black.
“We’ve been part of the trail rides, the cattle rides,” Hearn said. “Anything with a horse, Black cowboys have been part of it.”
For the past 35 years, Cowboys of Color have been competing in the annual Texas Black Invitational Rodeo hosted by the African American Museum of Dallas. “As my dad always said, let me educate you while I entertain you,” Hearn said.
This year’s rodeo is on Saturday, July 27 at the Fair Park Coliseum at 7 p.m and funds from the event will go towards the museum.
“We say that Black rodeo can help rodeo period. Once you see a Black rodeo, it’s not going to matter what color the cowboy is,” said Hearn.
With a growing interest, more are learning about their untold stories. “It lets you know that we were part of America. We were part of the settling of America in the West,” said Hearn. “We were there then and we’re still here now.”
