BOLEY, Okla.--Thousands from across the nation will flock to the largest remaining historically all-Black town in Oklahoma as it hosts the oldest Black rodeo in the nation.
The Boley Rodeo takes place Saturday May 24 at 7 p.m. at the Boley Rodeo Arena, about an hour east of Oklahoma City on U.S. 62. Tickets for the event are $20.
As more Hollywood documentaries and films begin to center Black cowboys after decades of portraying a white-washed history, the annual Boley Rodeo continues a 122-year legacy of honoring the melanin-filled history and the vibrant future of Black rodeos since the town was founded in 1903.
Oklahoma once boasted over 50 all-Black towns. Boley is the largest of the 13 remaining today, and Oklahoma is home to some of the most prominent Black rodeo events in the nation.
Honoring the tradition of the Oklahoma Black Rodeos
Tiffany Guess is a music director, MC, rodeo producer and master of ceremonies for Black rodeos across Oklahoma.
“It’s just a piece of culture, right,” Guess told the Black Wall Street Times. “To me Black rodeos incorporate the Western heritage that we’ve been a part of and the music, the fashion show, the line dancing. It’s just a family fun event that I think everybody should get to experience.”
Raised in and around the rural Shawnee area, Guess said she’s been attending Black rodeos since she was a child.
“We’ve always attended the major rodeos, like the Okmulgee and the Boley, and then whenever I started working, and my brother started riding Pony Express, that’s when we started attending all of them.”
Now, she also maintains Tiffany Guess Rodeo Calendar, which compiles and updates communities on upcoming Black rodeos in Oklahoma and across the nation. Her calendar honors the tradition of retired Ms. Kathy O’Guin, a Tulsa woman who ran a calendar called Kathy’s Roundup.
Beyond entertaining the community, Black rodeos serve a crucial purpose as a driver of local economies. Boley’s population represents a quarter of the size during its heyday in the early 1900s.
“I’m happy that other people are finally catching on, and it’s really helping out us as the producers and the contestants that are in the sport to help boost the economy,” Guess said.
Art installation brings life to Boley
Visitors and residents alike will see a new site when they venture outside for this year’s Memorial Day weekend events and rodeo. An art installation birthed from recycled garbage bins now boldy reimagines the Black cowboy heritage and rural lifestyle.
Project 2020 Foundation, an organization dedicated to revitalizing Boley and other historic Black towns, partnered with 16 artists to create Trash to Treasure: Rodeo Edition. The installation will be featured during the Boley Rodeo on Saturday.
Wes Luster is a contemporary folk portraiture who helped spearhead the project. “The meaning of this is bringing life to Boley. Art is life,” Luster told the Black Wall Street Times.
Luster said that while small towns like Boley are seeing young people leave for better opportunities, the art installation serves as a symbol of the community’s resurgence.
“And so bringing this project to Boley means showing that we’re not gone. It’s hope and life, but it’s also creating opportunities for local artists as well,” Luster said.
Natalya King and Karen Ekuban of Project 2020 Foundation raised $5,000 and secured 20 donated bins from the city of Shawnee for the installation. Participating artists included Wes Luster, Joshua Farrell, Thrumyeyez, Denae Smith, Tiffany Mcknight, Debra Martin-Barber, Feahther, Raasheda B, Suzanne Justice, Rico Young, Sydni Rain, Zreknuks Andersen, Leondre Lattimore, Aditi Heins, Ebony Dallas, and Dane Heins.
Boley Rodeo continues Black Oklahoma tradition
Notably, several Black rodeo cowboys from Oklahoma have gone on to win world championships in bareback riding, steer wrestling, calf roping, and bull riding, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The state’s tourism department has promoted Oklahoma’s Black rodeo circuit as well as part of its efforts to expand tourism. As part of the state’s new Civil Rights Trail, Boley was the first historic town to receive a marker along the new route, which includes all-Black towns, two influential tribal communities and two Civil War battle sights.
“Boley was the first to go up,” Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell said in a recent interview with the Black Wall Street Times, calling the Boley Rodeo “huge.” His office has been pushing to expand cultural tourism as a way to revive local economies.
“The best part of the job is going into communities and reminding them of something that they have in their community that they should renovate or revitalize,” Lt. Gov. Pinnell said.
For longtime rodeo participants and promoters like MC Tiffany Guess, seeing the rest of the world finally embrace the vibrant culture of Black rodeos fills her with gratitude. She’ll be hosting the Legacy Open Rodeo in Purcell, Oklahoma, on June 28.
“For the state tourism department to back it I think it’s a plus,” Guess said. “Because, why wouldn’t they?”
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