Back in 2015, photographer Ivan McClellan received an invitation that would change his life: an opportunity to attend the Roy LeBlanc Invitational, the longest running Black rodeo in the United States, alongside Charles Perry, director and producer of The Black Cowboy, a documentary produced in 2016. He arrived in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, a small town on a Creek Indian Reservation, in the dead of August, the temperature rising to 105 °F (41 °C) with 100% humidity.
Hundreds of Black Americans from all over the country had come out for the event, setting themselves up in the shade where they barbecued, drank beers, and caught up with friends. Hip Hop, R&B, and gospel music filled the air, bedazzled cowboy hats glittering like disco balls during line dances like the Cupid Shuffle, as the energy began to pick up when the rodeo began just before nightfall.
As McClellan took it all in, he was instantly transported back to his early years in Kansas City, Kansas. He grew up in a working class neighborhood that was equal parts city and country. Out front, gang members hung out on the streets, while out back McClellan and his sister would chase lightning bugs through the summer fields. Chickens ran through a neighbor’s backyard, and some folks even had cows and horses.
But McClellan would have never thought to describe his neighbors as cowboys or farmers, for by that time their image had been so thoroughly whitewashed that they had all but been erased from the pages of American history. In fact, the very term “cowboy” originally being a slur used by white ranchers to degrade Black cowhands following the Civil War when freedmen hit the open range, making up 25% of the workforce in the South and expanding West.
Cowboy culture, which has its roots in 16th century Mexico, flourished with the opening of the American frontier. The myth of the Old West was forged between 1865-1890 by outlaws, prospectors, settlers, and cowboys cast their fates against the golden plains and majestic purple mountains carefully stewarded by Native peoples for thousands of years.
During that time, one man became legends for bringing order to chaos on the plains: the Lone Ranger, a fictional character based on Bass Reeves, the first Black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi. Born into bondage in 1838, Reeves won his freedom after defeating a slave owner in hand to hand combat before vanishing into the frontier, where he lived among the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek. In 1875, Reeves took his post, and went on to capture more than 3,000 felons over 32 years on the job.
Westerns surged to popularity at the turn of the 20th century as movies emerged as the dominant form of pop culture. With the close of the frontier, the cowboy was elevated to the American archetype, embodying the spirit of rugged individualism. But for far too long, its layered histories have gone untold.
Eight Seconds
While the history of Black cowboys has largely been erased, the culture soldiered on in the people, whose communities are tied to the land. And on that August day in 2015, Ivan McClellan rediscovered something that had been with him all along — and he was hooked.
Over the next decade, McClellan embarked on an odyssey to create his debut monograph, Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture (published by Damiani Books), traveling to every corner of the country to photograph America’s Black cowboys and cowgirls who carry on the tradition of their ancestors who built the nation from the ground up.
Whether photographing teen cowgirl sensation Kortnee Solomon at her family’s Texas stables, capturing bull riding champion Ouncie Mitchell in action, or kicking it with the Compton Cowboys at their Los Angeles ranch, McClellan chronicles the extraordinary athletes who keep the magic and majesty of the “Old West” alive with high-octane displays of courage, strength, and skill.
The book’s title, Eight Seconds, refers to the sport of bull riding — athletes must stay on a bull for a total of eight seconds while it bucks and the more hectic the ride, the higher they score. It’s an apt metaphor for McClellan’s devotion to this long-form documentary project, which required him to hone his reflexes, endurance, and stamina to get the picture.
With Eight Seconds, selections from which are now on view at Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, McClellan honors the highest ideals of independence, integrity, and grit with intimate photographs that preserve the deep-rooted connections between the people and the land.
American Requiem
Ivan McClellan’s work on Eight Seconds didn’t stop when he put the camera down at night; instead he understood that his journey had only just begun. As he began working with Western heritage brands to reach Black audiences, he recognized an opportunity to bring financial opportunities to the athletes themselves. He hired them for photo shoots, the jobs to fund a sport whose steep costs make barriers to entry extremely high.
During his son’s fourth birthday party, a friend named Vince Jones suggested McClellan bring cowboys out to Portland, where he lives and works. “I was like, what if we did a rodeo? When he was like, yeah, let’s do a rodeo this, real nonchalant,” McClellan says. “I think neither one of us were fully aware of how complex that was, but we just said, let’s do it.”
In June 2023, just six months later, they launched the inaugural Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo in Portland, which happens to be the whitest big city in the United States. But the capital of Oregon didn’t get that way by chance. When it entered the Union in 1859, it became the only state to explicitly forbid Black people from becoming residents.
Today Portland remains 72% white with Black residents accounting for only 6% of the city’s population of 652,000. Despite, or perhaps because of this imbalance, spectators came out in droves when they heard the rodeo had come to town.
McClellan remembers walking out into the arena before the rodeo began to hang a final sponsor banner before the show got underway. He remembers turning around and seeing the crowd of 2,500 had arrived early and they were all in their seats. The predominantly Black audience had arrived in high style, showing off their outfits, reconnecting with friends, and creating a space for community among devoted fans and first timers.
“We had about 30 athletes competing the first year,” McClellan says. “They came from California, Oklahoma, and all the way from Florida. We talked to every athlete personally, I told them who I was and what we were doing. We were a completely unknown entity and getting people to take their horse and trailer over the Rockies was a really big task. So we gave away $60,000 in prize money. We wanted to give them a really big payday. We paid people’s gas money. We did whatever it took to get them out here.”
Country Soul
This year, the second annual Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo, was held on June 16 to a sold out arena of 7,200 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. With the new edition, Ivan McClellan took his vision to new heights, bringing in three production companies to build out the experience so that attendees can enjoy the full Black rodeo experience.
With the rodeo, McClellan paves a trail that bridges photography, sport, culture, style, and community through the lens of the Black experience. It’s a moment whose time has come, as exemplified by the fervent release Beyoncé’s latest album, Cowboy Carter.
“The book is an artifact of experience,” McClellan says, “The comment that I hear the most from folks is the feeling of being taken into a place and they catch the wave of excitement in the activities of the day. This is also the first time many people have seen the work offline, and the ability to live with a photo for a long time is something that is really resonating with them. A lot of people who are buying it have never bought a photo book before.”
It’s a true full circle moment for McClellan, who remembers countless trips to Barnes & Noble bookstores in New York during the early 2000s, pulling out photo books, and settling in for long leisurely looks at the latest photography monographs.
“I would sit there with a stack of photo books and fall asleep until they were closing,” McClellan remembers. “Going into a Barnes & Noble now and seeing my own work in there, I’m imagining that some other 20 year old kid is going to be able to experience it. That means a lot for me.”
Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture is published by Damiani Books, $49.95
Ivan McClellan: Eight Seconds is on view through June 29, 2024, at Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts in Portland, OR
The second annual Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo was held on June 16, 2024 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, OR
