Danell Tipton with Black Rodeo USA competes in bull riding and is one of only eight Black men who have qualified for the national finals in the sport.

His organization produced Monday night’s MLK Jr. African American Heritage Rodeo, celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black cowboy culture in a coliseum of more than 7,000 cheering fans.

Black Rodeo USA hosts rodeos all over the country, and Tipton said his favorite part of every rodeo is seeing the spark in peoples’ eyes as they realize anyone can be a cowboy.

“History books don’t teach kids about Black cowboy culture, there’s so much history they left out,” Tipton said. “There are not a lot of Black people who know there are Black cowboys out there, so it’s unbelievable to see people go ‘wow, I could do that’.”

Monday night’s rodeo began with a flag salute and steer wrestling as a full coliseum of fans cheered and waved their cowboy hats in the air. It ended with fan-favorite bull riding, and the crowd exploded as contestants from all over the country fought for the winning title on bulls with names like “Hoopla,” “Halter Top,” and “Wild Thing.”

In between, young kids competed in mutton busting by trying to stay on the back of a sheep as long as possible, cowgirls chased steers to steal ribbons from their backs in the ladies steer undecorating competition, two relay teams raced in the pony express, and crowds screamed, danced and cheered for their favorite competitors.

The crowd was rowdy and electric, donning various colors of cowboy hats and western attire, hooting and hollering as horses, bulls and their riders raced around the arena, kicking up dirt into the crowd.

Kandra Demery competed in ladies barrel racing Monday night, head high atop her horse as she led it full speed around three barrels on the rodeo floor.

Demery has been involved in rodeos for about 25 years, she said.

“Today is a little bit more special because my family and others have fought to be able to compete at an all-Black rodeo when there were times that we never could compete,” Demery said.

At least a quarter of cowboys in the late 1800s were Black, according to historian Acoma Gaither with History Colorado, and many others were Native American and Mexican.

“People usually have this idea of the archetypal cowboy we see in mass media, which has been in the works since the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,” Gaither said. “But that leaves out that multicultural history.”

Records show that slave traders specifically targeted African tribes familiar with cattle herding, Gaither said. Those enslaved people were often assigned tasks like catching and tending wild cattle, since they had the expertise to do so.

Following the Homestead Act of 1862, formerly enslaved people gradually moved out west, where there was a need for people in agricultural work and herding, she said.

William “Bill” Pickett was one of the most famous Black cowboys of the time, leaving school in fifth grade in the 1870s to work as a ranch hand, Gaither said.

Pickett started learning rodeo performance techniques and won numerous rodeo contests and national competitions, Gaither said.

In 1984, promoter Lu Vason created the longest-running Black touring rodeo, called the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, in Denver, Gaither wrote.

For almost two decades, the BPIR partnered with the National Western Stock Show to produce the MLK Jr. African American Heritage Rodeo.

The two organizations split ways this year, citing scheduling constraints “that could not be reconciled” in an October joint news release.

“While we are disappointed that the BPIR will not be hosting the 2026 MLK Jr. African American Heritage Rodeo of Champions due to schedule constraints, we are grateful for nearly twenty years of partnership with the National Western Stock Show,” Valeria Howard-Cunningham, the president & CEO of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, said in the release.

This year, Black Rodeo USA took the production slot, carrying forward the event’s “mission to honor African American rodeo athletes, preserve Western heritage, and inspire future generations through the message and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” the release said.

Monday marked the second full week of the National Western Stock Show, which began Jan. 10 will run through Jan. 25, 2026.