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Boley, Oklahoma, was the center of the rodeo universe Saturday as thousands packed the historic all-Black town to join the excitement of its famous Black rodeo. It’s been 121 years since cowboys first ran the arena in Boley. Amazingly, the tradition that began in 1903 still holds strong today.
A Night to Remember
Country artist Willie Jones kicked off the night with a concert in front of the packed stands. Attendees sang and danced along while Jones, who is featured in several songs on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, performed several of his latest hits.
As his set wrapped, the action was just getting started.
The magic of Boley’s Black Rodeo lives on more than a century after it started.
A Thrilling Start to the Black Rodeo
First up were some of the youngest future wranglers. In a famous rodeo activity called ‘mutton busting,’ young kids rode sheep across the arena. One by one, each youngster donned their helmet and held on tight as the crowd cheered them on.
From there, the action only continued. More than one hundred horses and riders paraded through the arena, waving as the music blared and the crowd cheered.
One by one, over a dozen cowboys tried mounting a bucking horse for as long as they could. While some quickly fell off, others managed to hang on for several rides around the ring.
From these individual rides to a thrilling relay race called the Pony Express and a bull-wrangling finale, the excitement in Boley continued into the night.
A Community United by Tradition
As the Black rodeo came to a close, the streets of this town of about six hundred swelled with people. Streams of people walked down back roads, finding their way to their cars parked on the grass hours before. In any other circumstance, there would likely have been frequent whispers, grumbles, and grievances about the walk, the dark, or the dust.
But on Saturday night in Boley, chatter and laughter filled the night air around the town. The magic of the longest-running Black rodeo in the world is still strong, one hundred and twenty-one years on.