The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America
The book “The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America” by Ron Tarver with an essay by Art T. Burton has received the following awards:
* The Pulitzer Prize Award
* Winner of the best book in the African American (non-fiction) category - Next Generation Indie Book Awards
* Winner of the best cover design (non-fiction) - Next Generation Indie Book Awards
* Finalist for the best book in the Coffee Table/Photography category - Next Generation Indie Book Awards
* Finalist in the History Category - Black Authors Matter TV Awards.
* Gold medal IPPY Award - The Independent Publishers Book Awards
A unique look at black cowboys in America. The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America is the first book to capture the contemporary experiences of Black cowboys. Despite their significant presence since the nineteenth century, their contributions and enduring culture remain relatively unknown. This book highlights their rich heritage and thriving culture in both urban and rural areas.
Photographer Ron Tarver, from a family of Black cowboys in Oklahoma, provides stunning images that challenge traditional notions of cowboy life. His work showcases Black-owned ranches, rodeo operations, parades, inner-city cowboys, and Black cowgirls of all ages.
The book's release follows the popularity of films like "Old Town Road" and "Concrete Cowboy," contributing to a growing interest in the Black experience in America. It also features an essay by historian Art T. Burton, making it a valuable addition to American history.
For decades the idea of the cowboy has been romanticized in books, television, and movies as a white hero wearing a white hat. This nostalgic idea is sewn into the national fabric. While the Black cowboy, if recognized at all, is represented as a historical side note resigned to a distant memory. The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America offers a contemporary counterpoint through Ron Tarver’s insightful photographs of Black people embodying their Western cultural heritage. Taken between 1993 and 1997, these photographs offer testimony to the lived experiences of a thriving community. Celebrating a full-circle of experience, from Black owned ranches to big city riding clubs across the United States, Tarver’s images speak to Black joy, Black freedom, and Black resistance. The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America deconstructs ideas of Black identity and challenges the whitewashed myth of the all-American cowboy. Simply stated, the exhibition is about the beauty, romance, and majesty of the Black West.