Mark and Sandra Myers, founders of the Black Cowboy African American Cultural Festival in Rembert, are happy that more than 2,000 recently came each day during the three-day event, May 23-26, but they said they want to do more in the coming years to showcase Black history.

Mark Myers said he’d like to network with others to expand the festival to include the stories of Black men who volunteered to fight during the Civil War, Black men known as the Buffalo soldiers who helped America settle the West, and sweetgrass basket makers, who’ve sewn African-styled coiled baskets.

Coincidentally, Mount Pleasant sweetgrass basket maker Nakia Wigfall attended the event where she saw for the first time Black rodeo performers like the White cowboys she watched on television as a child. “There were Black cowboys!” she said. “I didn’t know that history.”

Wigfall said she’d be willing to demonstrate her basket-making techniques at the rodeo if she were invited to attend next year’s event. 

Wigfall said she was also amazed to see equestrian trailblazer Breauna Ousley, a native of Camden, in the rodeo arena. Ousley, the first Black English rider on the University of Alabama equestrian team, demonstrated her riding techniques.

The rodeo, which started 27 years ago as a church fundraiser, has grown into an increasingly popular event at the Myers’ Greenfield Farms to remind the public the role Black cowboys played in settling the west.

Fourteen-year-old Synijah Myers, of Rembert, brings the American flag into the rodeo arena during the opening ceremony at the Black Cowboy African American Cultural Festival in Rembert.
D.J. Brown of Timmonsville is shot out of the gate on the back of a bucking bronco during a recent rodeo competition in Rembert, a town of 255 residents northwest of Sumter.
Cowboys call the rider who helps them off of a bucking horse the “pickup man.” D.J. Brown gets help at the end of his ride in the rodeo arena.
The “pickup man” (left) watches Billy Ray Thunder, a member of the Atlanta Black Rodeo Association, hold the reins and waits for the moment he can exit a rough riding horse.
After his ride, Billy Ray Thunder of Atlanta waves to the audience after what might be his last rodeo performance, according to Mark Myers, founder of the Black Cowboy African American Cultural Festival.
Felicity Sumpter of Rembert shows the judge of the riding competition how she handles her horse during the Black Cowboy African American Cultural Festival.
The sky over the rodeo arena turned dark momentarily, and it appeared that rain would spoil the Black Cowboy African American Cultural Festival.
Children line up in the rodeo arena to compete in a barrel race on foot.
May the best boot win.
Ladies like cowboys.
Breauna Ousley, the first Black English rider on the University of Alabama equestrian team, demonstrates her riding techniques during the opening ceremony to the Black Cowboy Festival.

Photos by Herb Frazier.
To learn more about the Black Cowboy Festival, visit blackcowboyfestival.net.

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