Black Western Culture through Music, Film, and Art, an event series coordinated by Associate Professor and Chair of Art Ron Tarver, celebrates the historical and contemporary significance of Black Western heritage in America.

Presented during America's 250th anniversary — and amid a renewed cultural interest in the Black cowboy culture — the series brings together the preeminent experts of Black Western culture and history to examine how the myth and reality of the American West continue to shape our understanding of the nation's past and present.

Tarver — a Pulitzer Prize-, Pew Fellowship-, and Guggenheim Fellowship-winning photographer — has spent more than 30 years documenting Black cowboys. His iconic imagery is compiled in his award-winning book, The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America. The Philadelphia debut of his solo exhibition, named after his book, is on view at The Print Center museum in Philadelphia through Nov. 14.

“We all built this country,” says Tarver, “and to remind people that we were in this culture, and have been for a long time, is important.”

The series, supported by the William J. Cooper Foundation, includes a range of programs. 

An exhibition at the List Gallery, The Black West in Color, features works by artists Praise Fuller, Rick Gerrity, Keith Jackson, Charles H. Lee, Ivan McClellan, Vinetta Miller, and Nate Young, presented alongside reproductions of historical photographs and a selection of prints by Tarver, to create a dialogue between historical record and contemporary artistic interpretation. The exhibition runs through October 11.

On Oct. 2, the world premiere for Charles Perry’s documentary, The Black Cowboy, will be followed by a panel discussion with Perry; Art T. Burton, historian, author, and retired professor (Prairie State and South Suburban Colleges); El-Dog Ferrell, founder of Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club; Mia Mask, historian, author, and film professor (Vassar College); and Ivan McClellan, photojournalist and producer of Eight Seconds Rodeo; moderated by Tarver. The film screening begins at 5:30 p.m.

On Oct. 3, Dom Flemons — Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter known as “The American Songster” — will present a workshop and demonstration from 3-4 p.m. That evening, from 7-9 p.m., he will perform a live soundtrack for the 1939 film The Bronze Buckaroo, one of the first Western films to feature an all-Black cast, followed by a performance of his album, Black Cowboys.

On Oct. 4, students and other community members will attend a BBQ and tour of Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, an historic riding club that inspired the film Concrete Cowboy. The bus, departing at 11 a.m., is limited to 20 people. Participants can register online.

A trip to the 8 Seconds Rodeo in Philadelphia will take place on Saturday, Oct. 10. The top Black rodeo athletes from across the country will compete in bull riding, bareback bronc riding, barrel racing, and mutton bustin' events for $60,000 in prize money. This trip is at capacity, but participants can join the waitlist to be notified if a ticket becomes available.