February is Black History Month but Saturday was certainly Black History Day in downtown Rockdale.
In addition to the annual downtown-to-Sumuel Park Juneteenth Parade, a storyboard marker was dedicated honoring legendary African-American cowboy Bill Pickett.
Pickett is credited with inventing the rodeo sport of bulldogging (steer wrestling) at the corner of Main and Cameron (today’s US 79-FM 487) in 1903.
Pickett’s great nephew, Gerald Anderson of Taylor, was on hand for the dedication and other festivities.
Temperatures, and humidities well into the 90s, didn’t deter interested persons from celebrating two moments in Texas history Saturday in Rockdale.
A marker dedication, and evening slide show presentation, observed the moment 115 years ago when an African-American cowboy invented what came to be the rodeo sport of steer wrestling on the streets of Rockdale.
And the annual observance of Juneteenth—the day in 1865 when the news of emancipation was carried to Texas—included a parade, afternoon of activities at Sumuel Park, and an evening dance.
PICKETT—William (Bill) Pickett was born in 1879 to Thomas Jefferson and Virginia Elizabeth (Gilbert) Pickett.
He became a skilled cowboy.
In downtown Rockdale in 1903 an unruly Longhorn steer tried Pickett’s patience to the point where he did something drastic.
Pickett rode his horse alongside, then jumped off his horse onto the back of the steer and grabbed his horns.
The steer resisted until Pickett bit its lower lip, at which point the animal became, in the words of one historian “downright docile.”
Pickett said he discovered the technique while watching herding dogs work cattle.
He later toured the world showing off his skills and the act of bulldogging became the rodeo event of steer wrestling.
Pickett died in 1932 after being kicked in the head by a horse.
Pickett’s great-nephew, Gerald Anderson, was on hand Saturday to help unveil the storyboard marker.
Anderson also presented a slide show about his famous ancestor Saturday evening at the Kay Theatre.
JUNETEENTH—
Juneteenth celebrates the June 19, 1865, announcement of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston.
The traditional observance in Rockdale includes a parade, held downtown for the second straight year.
Food, music and visiting were on tap throughout the afternoon.
Juneteenth activities concluded with a dance at the Kay Theatre following the Pickett presentation.
Juneteenth committee members were Kendra Darnell, Henry Miller, Kefa Mitchell, Lynda Ford, Larry Wilcox, Bobby Joe Tindle, Terrilyn Jones, Lucretia Henderson, Lisa Roberts, Nathan Roberts and Darrell Grear.
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