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"It's electric:" MLK Jr. Rodeo of Champions celebrates Black cowboys and cowgirls
NEWS | LOCAL NEWS
"It’s electric:" MLK Jr. Rodeo of Champions celebrates Black cowboys and cowgirls
Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo comes to Denver on Monday
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Photo by: Jordan Ward
Maurice Wade rode in the very first Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in 1984.
By: Colette Bordelon
Posted at 3:21 PM, Jan 16, 2022 and last updated 7:34 PM, Jan 16, 2022
DENVER — The MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo of Champions will honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday evening in Denver. It is part of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, which started in 1984. ... The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo was created by Lu Vason to showcase the cultural past of the Black cowboy. It was named after Bill Pickett, who was born in 1870, and invented what we know as steer wrestling.
“We've been all over the country. And that was Lu's way of introducing Black cowboys and Black cowgirls to the American public," said Maurice Wade, who participated in the first Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. “It is fitting for us to do a rodeo that honors a legend such as Martin Luther King Jr., who believed in peace and love.”
Wade said he took up the sport of rodeo after he returned from Vietnam. He's been doing it ever since, and will be participating in Monday's rodeo.
"It is for us to educate and teach people what the real American West was really like... it was one of the most integrated professions," Wade said. “Folks come up to us and say, I never realized that there was a Black cowboy, even today, and this rodeo has been going on for 37 years now.”
{snip}
"It’s electric:" MLK Jr. Rodeo of Champions celebrates Black cowboys and cowgirls
Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo comes to Denver on Monday
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Photo by: Jordan Ward
Maurice Wade rode in the very first Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in 1984.
By: Colette Bordelon
Posted at 3:21 PM, Jan 16, 2022 and last updated 7:34 PM, Jan 16, 2022
DENVER — The MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo of Champions will honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday evening in Denver. It is part of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, which started in 1984. ... The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo was created by Lu Vason to showcase the cultural past of the Black cowboy. It was named after Bill Pickett, who was born in 1870, and invented what we know as steer wrestling.
“We've been all over the country. And that was Lu's way of introducing Black cowboys and Black cowgirls to the American public," said Maurice Wade, who participated in the first Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. “It is fitting for us to do a rodeo that honors a legend such as Martin Luther King Jr., who believed in peace and love.”
Wade said he took up the sport of rodeo after he returned from Vietnam. He's been doing it ever since, and will be participating in Monday's rodeo.
"It is for us to educate and teach people what the real American West was really like... it was one of the most integrated professions," Wade said. “Folks come up to us and say, I never realized that there was a Black cowboy, even today, and this rodeo has been going on for 37 years now.”
{snip}