Bill Pickett Invitational shows off long tradition of Black cowboys during Georgia tour stop

The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo just thundered through Conyers, drawing riders from across the country, all chasing eight seconds of glory.

Under the lights of the Charles C. Walker Arena at the Georgia International Horse Park, the scene is part pageantry, part pressure cooker.

Boots are polished, hats are set just right, and the crowd roars when the gate swings open. For 19-year-old Terrance Jackson of Conyers, the assignment is simple: stay on the horse.

The rodeo's operators call it "the greatest show on dirt," and after 42 years, the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo has become the longest-running Black rodeo in the country — a traveling celebration of culture, competition, and history that rarely gets its due.

Named for Bill Pickett, the cowboy, showman, and early film star who invented "bulldogging" (yes, that involved leaping from a horse onto a steer and, incredibly, biting its lip, and wrestling it down by its horns) — the event carries forward a legacy that helped build the American West, even if history books didn't write it.

That legacy lives on through CEO Valeria Cunningham, who sees something deeper than competition in the arena and sees the riders as more than competitors. Parents, she says, often tell her, "When my child comes and competes, they feel like they're surrounded by family."

Beneath the bravado, the bucking, the boots, there's belonging and history.  Because behind every ride is an echo of the thousands of Black cowboys who helped shape the American West.

On this night, in Georgia dirt, they're holding on to that legacy and a bucking horse.  For Terrance Jackson, eight seconds were all it took to win.  

"Man versus beast," he said, "It ain't nobody but you and that horse, and you hold on with all you got."

Next stop for the Pickett Rodeo is Fort Worth, Texas, before the tour heads to its finals in Washington, D.C., this September.