Bill Pickett
1870 - 1932

Bill Pickett was a rodeo star who invented the event called "bulldogging", a method of wrestling a 1,000 pound steer to the ground.

African Americans made up a substantial percentage of cowboys in the Old West, even though they have not received a fair share of cinematic recognition for it. William Pickett, a real cowboy, was a part of the African American history of the Wild West, and is the most famous Black rodeo personality in history.

William (Bill) Pickett was born on December 5,1870, in Travis County, Texas. His parents, Thomas Jefferson Pickett and Mary Virginia Elizabeth Gilbert Pickett, were former slaves who had thirteen children. Pickett only attended elementary school until he completed the fifth grade; after that, he went to work as a ranch hand. As a youngster, he became so adept at riding and roping that he used to stage demonstrations of these skills, passing a hat for donations afterwards.

In 1888, the Pickett family moved to Taylor, Texas, where Bill and some of his brothers started a business "breaking" horses. Bill joined the National Guard and was a deacon in the Baptist church in Taylor, where he also performed rodeo feats at local fairs. At the age of twenty he married a young woman named Maggie Turner, with whom he eventually had nine children.

Pickett invented the rodeo event of bulldogging in 1903. Legend has it that Pickett got the idea for this method of subduing a steer by observing the tactics used by bulldogs that worked alongside cowboys: one day in Rockdale, Texas, a stubborn Texas Longhorn refused to enter a corral and was panicking the rest of the herd. Pickett lost patience with the creature and rode his horse at full speed alongside the troublesome steer. When he came alongside the rampaging animal, he jumped off his horse and grabbed the steer by its horns. As the bovine continued to fight him, he bit it on its lower lip and tossed the animal to the ground. All early bulldoggers at rodeos used the lip-biting tactic, but it has been gradually phased out of the bulldogging event at modern rodeos.

Pickett gave demonstrations of this technique at fairs and rodeos around Texas, and the event grew in popularity. (Pickett was only five-seven and weighed about 145 pounds, so his wrestling a full-grown steer to the ground was a remarkable feat, in itself.) Pickett's cowboy skills were formidable, yet he was barred from many competitions because of his color. Sometimes he was allowed to compete at rodeos by saying he was an Indian, or of some other race. He performed at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1904 and impressed everyone. Soon after, he was hired by the 101 Ranch Show, and moved with his wife and children to Oklahoma. With this show, Pickett traveled around the U.S., Canada,
Mexico, and even performed in England and South America.

An exciting incident occurred during a performance in 1905 at Madison Square Garden,
in New York City. A bulldogger normally has a "hazer", an individual who rides alongside the steer to force it to run in a straight line after it takes off. In this instance. Bill Pickett.s hazer was a youthful Will Rogers. A steer was released. and came barreling out of the chute. Instead of heading out toward the middle of the arena, the animal went out of control, jumping over the fence and into the grandstands. It began running up the steps. as members of the audience screamed in panic and tried to get out of its way. Pickett and Rogers quickly followed it all the way up to the third balcony where Rogers was able to make it turn aside--as soon as it turned, Pickett grabbed its horns and wrestled it down. The daring actions of Pickett and Rogers were well-publicized and led to their further popularity .Pickett became the first Black cowboy to appear in a motion picture.

Bill Pickett was trying to rope a stallion on foot at the age of sixty-two when he fell and was kicked in the head by the horse. He died at the hospital in Ponca City on April 2. 1932. In 1971 Pickett was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame the first African American cowboy to be honored thus. In 1994 the U.S. Postal Service attempted to honor Pickett with a postage stamp but accidentally produced and distributed a stamp depicting one of Pickett's brothers. The stamp was recalled and another one was issued with the correct picture, a situation that created an uproar among stamp collectors.

Bulldogging lives on as a rodeo event, and the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, featuring African American cowboys, tours the United States each year. (This author attended the Bill Pickett Rodeo several years ago in the Bay Area with her young son. It is a unique experience for those of us who live in urban areas to see so many African American teenagers and young people, male and female, defying all stereotypes and carrying on the legacy of the African American cowboy. )[]
Susan Robinson
5/28/01