We’ve seen the “cowboy/cowgirl” aesthetic all over our timelines and feeds—the hats, the boots, the outfits with cow-print patterns and fringe. But what does it really mean to be a cowboy or cowgirl? The 8 Seconds Rodeo, held at the Liacouras Center, showcased the true meaning of that at its debut this past Saturday. The event brought together some of the biggest names in Black rodeo, and a crowd of over 8,000 people to Philadelphia to celebrate the Black athletes of a predominantly white sport.
Cowboy culture isn’t new to Philadelphia. The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, founded by Ellis Ferrell (“El-Dog”), has been a safe haven for children to learn about and ride horses since 2004. His 12-year-old grandson, Ellis, who attended the rodeo, tells Her Campus that his grandpa started the club to encourage the community to put the guns down and help youth stay off the streets.
Savion Strain, a bull rider from Spencer, Oklahoma, started riding through, “My uncle. He got me on when I was very young and since then it’s been a drive and love for this. I used to play football. I grew up watching contact sports but this is just different.” 8 Seconds rodeo isn’t just any other rodeo, Tank Adams, a bareback and bull rider from Shawnee, Oklahoma, explained the rodeo, saying: “This is as live as it gets, a dead man would clap his hands. They got fireworks going off a drumline. It’s a whole production. It’s like going from a catholic church to a black church. You feel the atmosphere and it moves the crowd.”Â
The rodeo was exactly as he described, with a production featuring cannons jetting out clouds of smoke, and spotlights illuminating the athletes as they walked out to hip-hop hits blasting throughout the stadium. The rodeo’s events included mutton bustin’, bareback riding, bull riding, and barrel racing. Tank describes Philadelphia as the perfect place for the 8 Seconds debut as, “Philadelphia is the heart of excitement. When I think of Philadelphia I think of the different cultures, I think about the battles they have when it comes to dancing, rap battles. Everyone meets in Philadelphia from New York, the Bronx, when you look online this is where the best of the best is, this is where the excitement is at.”Â
Turns out the best of the best really is in Philadelphia, as the winner for barrel racing was Philadelphia’s very own native cowgirl, Amber Perez. She describes the importance of representation in Black Rodeo’s as “somebody seeing a woman of color doing this, I hope it would drive them to at least try. I think it shows people there is life beyond the city, Black people do own horses. Even when I was a kid people would see us, they would be like oh my god a Black person has horses, it was just a phenomenon.”Â
In the realm of rodeo, Black athletes weren’t always treated fairly. Ivan McClellan, founder of 8 Seconds, was originally a creative marketing director, but later began capturing Black rodeos. At a panel discussion at Temple’s Center for Anti-Racism, he explained that Black athletes were risking their lives for only a few hundred dollars, while white athletes were making thousands. When he started 8 Seconds Rodeo, he made it a point to pay winners enough to sustain themselves. 8 Seconds Rodeo has a total of $60,000 in prize money.
Tyler Torrey, bull rider from Convoy, Ohio, says being apart of this rodeo is special to him as “It’s unknown that people of Black culture and Black cowboys do this, it one of those things that growing up that people didn’t understand, it feels good to a part of the story to tell it and let people see it.”Â
The show was nothing short of exciting and a true embodiment of Black culture. The rodeo began with the crowd singing the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” alongside the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. Philadelphia’s very own Concrete Cowgirl, Erin Brown, Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Urban Riding Academy, made an appearance too. She opened the show while riding a bronco as the 8 Seconds Rodeo flag flew beside her. Representation is the heart and soul of this rodeo, impacting viewers and generations of cowboys and cowgirls to come. It is more than just a trend—it is rich with history.