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CASTRO VALLEY
Seeking to fill what they view as a void in American history, organizers of an African-American rodeo took over East Bay hills this weekend for the annual Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo.
About 3,000 fans from across the Bay Area and beyond packed Castro Valley's Rowell Ranch on Sunday for equal parts history, rodeo competition and food, as 50 or so cowboys and cowgirls competed in six events.
Organizers predicted the total attendance for the two-day event that ended Sunday was about 6,000.
The event, in its 24th year, was part of a 39-city tour that started Feb. 23 in Phoenix and culminates with a Nov. 21-22 finals in Las Vegas. The tour includes stops this week in Bakersfield and Los Angeles.
The rodeo honors the contribution of African-Americans to America's Western heritage. It is named after the legendary Pickett, who in 1972 became the first African-American cowboy to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"The true diversity of the West is not in the history books, and so it's an education," rodeo organizer Jeff Douvel said. "We're trying to educate, and we've been doing that very well for 25 years."
Pickett's claim to fame in American rodeo history was inventing steer wrestling, which was among six events at last weekend's rodeo.
"He used to do it by coming off of a horse, jumping onto the steer's back and biting the
But Pickett's contribution is just the tip of African-American contributions to the American West, organizers said.
The rodeo was founded by Lu Vason, a Berkeley native who didn't learn of African-American contributions to the West until visiting the Black American West Museum in Denver, where he has lived for more than 30 years.
"We're trying to bring about awareness and show the culture of blacks and their contributions in the West," he said. "You're still going to have people who say there's no such thing as black cowboys, so we're going to cities around the country."
The event attracted attendees of varying interests.
Randy Turner, a 52-year-old Oakland man, visited the Pickett Rodeo for the first time. Turner said he has enjoyed the atmosphere at rodeos in other parts of the Bay Area and wanted his family to learn more about the contributions of African-American cowboys.
"A lot of them don't know about this and I think it's a good idea that African-Americans come down and enjoy this and know that there were black cowboys," he said.
Doreen Brown, a 49-year-old systems analyst from Vallejo, said she wanted to introduce her 3-year-old niece, Dejianique Robinson, to an experience.
"How else is she going to know about her roots and the things that we do together as a culture?" she said.
"It's not necessarily just about being African-American, it's about being here with family and exposing kids to positive things they normally wouldn't see."
