The cowboy way

by

It’s a cloudless summer morning on Greenfield Farm in Sumter County. The smoky aroma of bacon and eggs wafts out of a nearby cabin, blending with the smell of grass warming in the sun and the expected barnyard odors. Sounds of a horse whinnying, followed by the soft thumps of hooves on dirt, the squeak of saddle leather and the rattle of tack follow. 

It’s 10 a.m., and temperatures are already approaching 90 degrees. But even in the heat and humidity, there’s a certain magical feeling in the air as riders ready their mounts and gallop off for the rodeo ring at the Black Cowboy Festival.

Greenfield Farm has been the setting for the annual festival for nearly a quarter of a century. The event celebrates the historical truth of black cowboys and cowgirls and shatters the pop culture myth that cowfolk were only white men. The 2021 Black Cowboy Festival drew 3,000 visitors, 40 vendors and 350 campers—a record turnout. Now celebrating 25 years, the 2022 event is scheduled to kick off May 27–28.

Founders Mark and Sandra Myers, owners of Greenfield Farm, say the festival is a draw because it offers something for everyone. What began in the mid-1990s as a “little horse show” to raise money for a local church has turned into the Black Cowboy Festival, a three-day event where guests spend the weekend immersed in riding workshops, watching timed racing events, touring the property in a horse-drawn carriage, and listening to live music.

“I named it the Black Cowboy Festival, but it’s not separating people. I want to bring people together. You come out and learn about me, and I learn about you. We learn things about each other,” Mark Myers says. “When you embrace your past, you know where you’re headed.”

While the festival has been running for decades, the truth about black cowboy culture often still needs to be explained, Sandra Myers says.

“People just didn’t know we had African American cowboys—even from my own race,” Myers says. “People would say to my husband, ‘You know there’s no black cowboys, right?’”

Mark Myers says he turned to history books for answers and learned that up to a third of the cattlemen who flocked west were black or of black descent and often had valuable experience handling cattle on plantations. Many of them used open-range herding traditions straight from African tribal practices. He also discovered Bill Pickett, who became the first black honoree in the National Rodeo Hall of Fame.

“It makes lots of sense. When you look at blacks who ran away from slavery, they ran west,” Sandra Myers says. “They taught people how to herd without fences, how to tame horses, true horse whispering. That history is right here.”

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Get There

The 2022 Black Cowboy Festival is scheduled for May 27–28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at Greenfield Farm, 4858 Spencer Road in Rembert. For details, visit blackcowboyfestival.net or call (803) 499-9658.

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South Carolina’s black cowboys and cowgirls

Ride along with cowfolk we met at the 2021 Black Cowboy Festival

Harold Miller

Harold Miller, now in his mid-60s, started riding bulls competitively in 1975. He’s an international legend, who most recently won a championship in 2019 at the Bill Pickett International Rodeo in the bareback bronco division. His primary mission at the festival this year was helping out with pony rides for children.

“When I started, there weren’t a lot of black cowboys involved, just one or two on the East Coast. There were a few more in Oklahoma and out West, not many,” Miller says. 

Growing up on a farm in Seneca, Miller learned to break horses. At age 18, on a whim and with no experience, he entered a bull-riding competition and won $250. He was hooked.

“That was beginner luck I guess, because the next 10 drilled me like crazy,” he says. He rode bulls for 30 years and later added bronco riding.

Today, as a member of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, which celebrates the history of black cowboys, he sees events like the festival as a way to educate the public, he says. “It teaches kids there were black cowboys way back yonder.” 

Angela Frederick, Alicia Allmond and Them Cowgirls

In reality, cowboy life has always been diverse, and it’s even more so now. Case in point, the drill team known as Them Cowgirls. A half-dozen women, ranging in ages from 11 to 64, don rugged Western wear—wide hats, heavy buckles, jeans and Cuban-heeled boots—and demonstrate equestrian skill to the delight of festival-goers. 

Senior member Angela Frederick, pastor of Love Covenant Church in Sumter, started with riding lessons at Greenfield Farm in 2009. She grew up with an interest in horses and enjoyed watching Westerns, “but I didn’t see myself represented in the Westerns,” she says. “You could watch 20 Westerns and see one black guy. We were just left out of the history books.”

Air Force veteran Alicia Allmond is a relative newcomer to the group. An animal lover, she worked for a horse rescue in Florida before settling in Camden.

“It’s amazing to have an event like this in the African American community and being able to share it,” she says. “It’s not an exclusive event. It’s an opportunity to share the black horse history with everybody, and I think that’s amazing.”

Sojourner Williams 

Sojourner Williams, an Afghanistan veteran originally from Wisconsin, sought horseback riding as her way to “get a piece of America.”

“I wanted to ride a horse, so I just went on the internet and found Greenfield Farms, and that’s how I started,” she says. “This was the best thing for me, just to be among all of God’s creatures and nature.”

Frank Clea

Learning about horses transcends race and culture, says Frank Clea. He’s a permanent fixture at the farm, where he trains and breaks horses. His specialty is grooming, or “beautifying them.”

“I’ve been working with them ever since I was a child; I love it,” says Clea. “It’s not just black or white. The importance is knowing you can have a friend in an animal, an animal that trusts you, that can take you from one place to another.”