Description
Book SynopsisBlack Rodeo in the Texas Gulf Coast Region: Charcoal in the Ashes provides an in depth sociocultural and historical analysis of the genesis and contemporary state of affairs regarding African American rodeo cowboys in southeast Texas, whose ancestors were instrumental in the development of the most celebrated livestock management industry in the world. The author painstakingly chronicles the origin of the Texas cattle industry from its Mexican roots to Austin's Colony, better known as the George Plantation/Ranch, where African Americans were intimately involved in the livestock management industry since its inception. Although enslaved before, during, and after the Republic of Texas was established, they were early stakeholders in the expansion of the western frontier, and an indispensable source of labor that facilitated the burgeoning cattle industry. Yet, as the author maintains, American history wantonly trivialized, marginalized, and blatantly omitted their contributions. This
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Rodeo Roots and Etiological Aspects
Chapter 2: Land Acquisition in Austin’s Colony and Cattle Ranching
Chapter 3: African American Ancestral Involvement and Livestock Management
Chapter 4: The Mythical West: Cowboys, Cattle Drives and Westward Expansion
Chapter 5: The Emergence of the Black Rodeo Cowboy
Chapter 6: Shadow Riders of the Subterranean Circuit
Chapter 7: Black in the Saddle: The Best Bull Rider You Never Saw
Chapter 8: The New Millennium: Black Rodeo and New Jack Cowboys
Chapter 9: Reliving the Past via Contemporary Trail Riding
