The Southeastern Rodeo Association’s annual Black Rodeo returns to St. Louis on Juneteenth weekend with a mission beyond entertainment: highlighting the overlooked legacy of Black cowboys and cowgirls. The event will be held Saturday, June 20, at Chaifetz Arena, with performances at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
SERA founder Walter Hull said the rodeo was created to bring families together while educating audiences about the history of Black cowboys and cowgirls.
“I was in entertainment all along and then the idea of a Black Rodeo came to me,” Hull said. “Family entertainment was lacking at that time. … We want to educate people on the history of the Black cowboy and cowgirl that helped tame the Old West.”
The event is held during the Juneteenth season by design.
“June 19th was a historical day for the African American cowboy, cowgirl — and, of course, the African American people in general as well,” Hull told attendees at last year’s rodeo. “1865 is a year and June 19th is a day that we will always remember.”
Historians estimate that as many as one in four cowboys in the American West were Black. Many were formerly enslaved people who found work in the cattle industry after the Civil War, helping drive herds north along trails that became central to the mythology of the American frontier.
Despite their contributions, Black cowboys were largely absent from many popular depictions of the West in movies and television.
“On TV we never saw Black cowboys and cowgirls,” Hull said. “We only saw the Lone Ranger, Rawhide and people like that — nobody that looked like us.”
The first SERA rodeo was held in 2013 in Montgomery, Alabama. Since then, the organization has staged events across the South, Midwest and East Coast.
Representation remains a central part of the mission.
“The rodeo is done out of a love for horses and western culture,” Hull said. “And if you have aspirations to be a cowboy, you’ll see somebody in the ring that looks just like you.”
Saturday’s rodeo will feature events including barrel racing, bronc riding, tie-down roping and steer wrestling.
Steer wrestling itself has roots in Black rodeo history. Bill Pickett, a Texas cowboy born in 1870, is credited with creating the event, which remains a staple of professional rodeos today. Pickett became one of the first Black stars of the rodeo circuit and was later inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.
Hull said many of the competitors have spent their lives in the sport.
“The people we have performing have been part of the rodeo all their life,” he said.
For Hull, the event’s purpose extends beyond competition.
“When you come out to the rodeo,” he said, “know that you’ll see somebody that looks like you.”
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