'Delta Hill Riders': African-American cowboy culture in the Mississippi Delta

https://www.yahoo.com/ ^ | 6/15/18

[BBell]

Rory Doyle’s ongoing personal project shares the story of African-American cowboy culture in the rural Mississippi Delta, challenging the Hollywood portrayal of the American cowboy. The work highlights the black cowboys and cowgirls in the Delta as a proud group existing beyond the movie image of the American West.

The project began in early 2017 when Doyle attended a rodeo celebrating black cowboy heritage in the region. Over the past year, he’s documented this band of horse riders in a place not typically known for its cowboys.

A recent article from Smithsonian magazine estimated that one in four cowboys was African-American following the Civil War, yet this population was drastically underrepresented in popular accounts. “Delta Hill Riders” sheds light on a prominent subculture historically overlooked, even in the Mississippi Delta.

Born in 1983, Maine native Doyle is currently based in Cleveland, Miss., the heart of the Delta. Doyle’s editorial work highlights populations in the region that are often unnoticed or underserved. Along with his series about African-American Delta cowboys, he has documented the growing Latino population in an area most known for its black and white history. Doyle’s publication list includes the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, ESPN’s “The Undefeated,” Getty Images, Vox Media and the Financial Times. He also provides marketing imagery for Delta State University.

Doyle has twice assisted Ron Haviv, photographer and co-founder of VII, while he instructed the documentary photography course for Barefoot Workshops in Clarksdale, Miss.

[spankalib]

Next time you go to a Longhorn Steakhouse you’ll find a large portrait of Bill Pickett hanging on the wall.

I think he was only @ 5’7” IIRC, and there’s a video of him bulldoggin on youtube. Wiry and strong!

[RedMonqey]

The couple sold their 'hobby farm" and the stallion is no more.(Couldn't find a taker)

Correction:

The couple did something incredibly stupid and horrible for the stallion.

Instead of upgrading the fences or putting the creature in the small barn(too cruel in their eyes, I ponder) the man used the halter to tie the poor animal to a nearby tree. During the night it tried to get itself free and by morning the horse was found dead. In it's struggles it twisted itself enough so that it hung itself from the branch it was tied to. Lots of people were very upset and a few threatened to his face to do the same to him . Lots of bad blood so the couple found it easier to move to a location, far far away.

[DiogenesLamp]

You never heard of Cowboy Troy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Troy

Here is my favorite song by him.

I play chicken with a train."

[DiogenesLamp]

Also the real “Lone Ranger” was a black cowboy. They really ought to do a movie about him.

[Rebelbase]

"l'll fix up some sugar tits to take along."

[RedMonqey]

lt smells of boy in here.

Latter

The same as you? Oh, children. My father was a brawny Moor. Six feet six inches tall. He bound his head in a red velvet cloth. He wore a curved sword... ...forged from the finest Toledo steel. He captured a lady... ... bright and dark. He took her in his arms... ...and wrapped her in a warm quilt... ...and carried her off. They came to a castle... ...and he battered down the doors with the trunk of an oak tree... ...and killed everybody in it! Just so they could rest the night. Later... ...while she slept... ... he walked the parapets... ...and became a king.

ls that true?

lf it isn't, it ought to be.

Great lines. Great character. Great movie

[RedMonqey]

What have you got to show me, white man, that l haven't seen before?

(Pretty intense lines, for the time)

Since you mean to hang me... ... l'd like to atone to my maker. (You got one minute. Speak your piece.) Where to begin? l regret having trifled with married women. l'm thoroughly ashamed of having cheated at cards. l deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain... ... my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all... ...forgive me for the men l've killed in anger...

...and for those l am about to.

The just don't make movies like this anymore. And note few if any cussing.(No F'n this, F'n that)

[RedMonqey]

And keep Johnny Depp far, far away from it!

[BBell]

Bummer. You don’t take on a wild stallion unless you are a seasoned horse wrangler. I would think anyway but I do think and some folks don’t. They go by their emotions. Dumb 0bamite libtards.

[Windflier]

The Delta” is just south of Memphis and north of Vicksburg.

Wow. I had no idea. My granddad was born in Panola County, right south of Memphis.

It now seems a lot more likely to me, that I might have a familial connection to these people.

Thank you!