Black rodeo photo project launches Portland ‘8 Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo’

Portland photographer Ivan McClellan said the first time he went to a Black rodeo, it made an indelible impression on him. He says, “It was like Black culture combined with Western culture in a way that I never, never could have imagined existed.” That visit sparked his multiyear project of photographs called “8 Seconds,” which became the basis for the creation of a new Portland rodeo, centering the experiences of Black cowboys and cowgirls. Participants from all over the country are expected to converge on the Portland Expo Center on Saturday for the inaugural “8 Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo.” McClellan joins us, along with the first Black Rodeo Queen in Arkansas, Ja’Dayia Kursh, crowned in 2017.

Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB, I’m Dave Miller. Two years ago, we talked with the Portland photographer Ivan McClellan. He had been traveling the country since 2015 to document Black rodeo culture and reframe a western mythology that had been whitewashed. Now, he’s not just documenting that culture, he is creating it. He’s putting on the inaugural “8 Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo” this Saturday, at the Portland Expo Center. Ivan McClellan joins us once again along with one of the people who’s gonna be on hand. Ja’Dayia Kursh was crowned the first Black Rodeo Queen in Arkansas in 2017.

It’s great to have both of you on the show.

Ivan McClellan: Yeah, hey, how’s it going? Good to see you.

Ja’Dayia Kursh: Yeah, glad to be here.

Miller: Ivan, first. So I mentioned you joined us in 2021 to talk about this year’s long photography project. Can you remind us what you saw when you went to your first Black rodeo event in Oklahoma?

McClellan: Yeah, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had heard about it from a videographer friend of mine and he said, ‘Hey, come on down and check it out.’ And I got out of my car, it was 105 degrees. There were big old grasshoppers jumping on me. There was barbecue smoke in the air. There was R&B and gospel and hip-hop mingling in the air and there were 2,000 Black cowboys there, riding around on their horses, interacting with each other. It was a family reunion type atmosphere and everybody was just having a good time and dancing and eating turkey legs. And then there was a rodeo and it was some of the most amazing sport that I’d ever seen. I had been to rodeos before, but I’d never seen people rodeo with so much style, and I’d never seen such a hype crowd and it was just something that really connected with me and I kept going back year after year.

Miller: Is it fair to say that that day changed your life?

McClellan: I think so. I didn’t realize it at the time but looking back on it, yeah, it was a big old L turn in my life.

Miller: What did you learn as you just dove deeper into that culture?

McClellan: I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I really connect with these folks.

I really connect with their passion for animals. I really connect with their love of the sport and the love of everything west. That’s something that I didn’t know. I’m wearing boots and a cowboy hat today.

Miller: I felt bad. You came up with a beautiful cream colored cowboy hat, which we made you take off so you could actually hear in your headphones, you couldn’t have put your headphones on with that big hat.

McClellan: Yeah. No, they wouldn’t have fit over the top.

Miller: But you wouldn’t have worn that hat before you started this project?

McClellan: Absolutely not. I would have thought, oh, that’s for cowboys and I’m not a cowboy. And I think things can change pretty quickly in your life.

Miller: “I’m not a cowboy.” I mean, would you also have said, I can’t be a cowboy because I’m Black?

McClellan: I would say I would have thought that, yeah, I would have thought that for a long time. I thought the cowboys were what I had seen in films and I hadn’t run into a lot of Black cowboys, or at least I didn’t identify them that way. I would see Black guys wearing hats and I would see Black guys wearing boots and I just thought, oh, you just got your own swagger, your own style. But I never thought that they were cowboys until I really got into the culture.

Miller: Ja’Dayia, what about you? My understanding is that your family, you didn’t own horses and you didn’t, say, grow up on a ranch. When was the first time that you were on a horse?

Kursh: I agree with Ivan, I thought the same thing for so long. I first started riding horses when I was six, through horse therapy, and I started competitive rodeoing, but I was a part of the PRCA rodeo.  I was a part of the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association, which means I didn’t know anything about the Black Rodeo Association and I’m from Arkansas. I was a part of a drill team with 19 girls and I was the only Black girl. And for a long time, I was like, oh my goodness, I’m like one of the only Black girls I know, like, are there any of us out there? I did for a long time. I was like, dang, I can’t be the only Black person out here riding horses. But yeah, just because they lack the representation. The white rodeos, they get the attention, the brands that sponsor them. And that’s what I’ve worked a lot on, is making sure that we get that same representation.

Miller: So you noted that you first got on a horse when you were six as part of therapy. What made you stick with it? What did it feel like to be on a horse?

Kursh: It became freedom for me. I always say that my therapist, she set me in a saddle one day and she handed me the reins to my freedom and I’ve been riding horses ever since. It’s like flying. It’s just, it’s an all around amazing experience. I mean, I haven’t been able to play a sport or do anything that amounts to being on horseback.

Miller: When did you start competing?

Kursh: When I was 13 is when I first started Pony Express racing and we won the first competition I was ever in. And then I continued to do drill team from the age of 15 up until high school graduation.

Miller: I’ve heard you say that it was bittersweet to realize that you were the first Black Rodeo Queen in Arkansas. What do you mean by that?

Kursh: I first found out, I was like 19. I was a freshman in college and at that point, the same arena that I found my love for the sport in was the same arena that I lost it in. And so I sold everything. I was like, I quit, I’m not gonna ever do that stuff ever again. And then once I, freshman year of college, I got to college and one day Essence Magazine had contacted me and they were like, ‘Hey, we’re looking for Black Rodeo Queens and we found you and this other, but we see you were crowned in 2017.’ And they were like, ‘You’re one of the first Black Rodeo Queens we’ve been able to find, and there’s no history about it.’ And I was like, wow, that’s when I realized you can’t quit who you are. I was like, I have so much work to do. I’m one of the first Black Rodeo Queens, no way.

So I made it my mission, it became like I have to make sure that we’re all represented and I guess it just, it woke that up in me.

Miller: Why had you stopped?

Kursh: I went through a lot of racism being on the Old Fort Days Dandies. Like I said, I was the only Black girl of 19. And I went through a lot of things. I was called derogatory racial names and things like that. So it really pushed me away from the sport. I loved horses, but once I got to college and I wasn’t on the team anymore, I was like, if that’s what I have to go through to be a part of it, I didn’t want to be a part of it anymore.

Miller: Ivan, when did you meet Ja’Dayia?

McClellan: I met Ja’Dayia in person, I met her for the first time at that first rodeo that I had been to. Not that year, but the Okmulgee Rodeo, the Roy LeBlanc Invitational. I met her there for the first time, I believe. Is that right, Ja’Dayia?

Kursh: Yeah. Well, what it was is you, after you went to Okmulgee, you came down and did a photo shoot of me.

McClellan: At Okmulgee, you rode a bronco. So she rode a bronco that year.

Kursh: Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

McClellan: You forgot, I remember it very vividly.

Miller: Why do you remember it?

McClellan: I remember it because she is like one of the only women that’s ever rode a bronco. She just got on it and rode for four or five seconds. The crowd went nuts, it was incredible to see. Mostly men ride broncos and she just said, “Hey, I’m gonna try it,” and she got in there, put her saddle on and rode. And then we took some pictures afterwards and hung out and became friends over the next couple of days.

Miller: I should mention that one of Ivan’s portraits of Ja’Dayia is on our site,

OPB.org/thinkoutloud along with a link to Saturday’s rodeo. Ivan, how did you go from documenting this culture to creating it, to putting on a new rodeo?

McClellan: As I had been going about, I’ve been doing it for eight years, going around, leaning on fences, running away from bulls, taking pictures of this culture that I love. And I just kept learning, I would talk to other rodeo managers, rodeo bosses and just learn how they did it. And that was from Black rodeos to professional bull riding events, to professional rodeos here in Oregon. I just would learn and gather information.

I started to get the idea that I wanted to do my own rodeo about two years ago. And I had talked to some people about what does it take to actually execute it and started to get a lot of tips.

Miller: What were some of the things you heard? Because we were just hearing before this from Steve Schulz from Cycle Oregon, about what it takes to put on a cycling event that goes from city to city. You’re talking about bringing in people from I think all around the country, in a big venue. Have you ever done anything of this scale before?

McClellan: Not at all. Like, I’ve thrown a birthday party. That’s probably the closest thing that I’ve done.

Miller: Wow, this is really different than a birthday party.

McClellan: Yeah, a little bit. I mean, it’s a celebration and it’s a moment of joy. Some of the things that I learned were how to recruit athletes and how to get them to come to your event. I knew that if I was gonna do a rodeo here in Oregon, I was gonna have to pay a lot in prize money to get people to come all the way across the Rockies with their horse trailer and families to compete.

Miller: So, step one is you have to raise money to attract people that the audience would actually want to see?

McClellan: Yeah, you gotta raise a lot of money, for prize money, dirt, lighting, all the stuff that it takes to put this on. I had good relationships with brands. So we brought in the sponsors first, was the first thing we did. Then I knew we had to have a good date, a sticky date that people were available, that fans would want to come out, a meaningful date. And so that’s why we chose Juneteenth.

Being in a place where there’s a big Black community was something that a lot of people said. So I initially thought, well, we’re gonna do it in Kansas City where I’m from. But as I thought about it and talked to it more with my main partner in this, Vince Jones-Dixon, who’s a city councilor in Gresham, it started to make a lot of sense to do it right here in Portland. We were like, it’s not a big community, but it’s a thriving community and it’s a hungry community. And I think if we do an event like this, it’ll go.

Miller: What kind of conversations have you had with Black friends who maybe, unlike you, are less familiar with a rodeo tradition? I’m just curious, what you’ve said to try to spread the word and to build an audience.

McClellan: I think one of the first people that I talked to, I said, ‘We’re doing a Black rodeo in Oregon,’ and he said, ‘Man, that’s awesome. What’s a rodeo?’ So I was like, wow, I’ve got a lot on my plate.

Miller: Those two together is great. I mean, the first thing is, I don’t know what that is. I’m not interested. The first thing is, that’s awesome. And then the second is, what is it?

McClellan: Yeah. So we had to do a little bit of work, a little bit of work in explaining what we’re doing and why it’s important. But for the most part, people were just like, curious. I think the 8 Seconds Project has done a good job at kind of spreading the message of Black cowboys and explaining what this event is, and people know a little bit about the culture and are curious about it and just the opportunity to do it in your hometown just kind of sold itself. We didn’t really do a lot of marketing. We didn’t have to push that hard.

Miller: Ja’Dayia, what’s it like for you to be a part of rodeos these days, once again after you’ve sort of come back from stepping away from them?

Kursh: For me it’s been really rewarding. I really don’t have to have to compete again or win another title. I’ve been able to do so much just being recognized as Arkansas’s first Black Rodeo Queen. And so with the platform, I’ve been able to really push and make sure that we are represented and that we have the same opportunities as our other brothers and sisters in the western industry that don’t look like us. I kind of made that my mission and I get to go to rodeos like Ivan’s rodeo, and just continue to watch the amazing cowboys that come out and compete and cheer them on and just enjoy the atmosphere like he said.

I have, as I’ve gotten older, been able to travel to more Black rodeos and it does feel like a cookout. It’s just amazing to be able to go and support people that have become family just so quickly, just off social media and building our platforms to really push Black cowboys and cowgirls and push us to the forefront like, hey, we’re out here, we’re out here doing the same thing, we just don’t have the same opportunities.

Miller: Ivan, you’re gonna have music from DJ OG ONE, who’s probably most well known for Blazers games, at the Moda Center. Do you have a sense of what he’s gonna play?

McClellan: He asked me, what do they play at rodeos down south? And I was like, oh, you can play a little bit of Breland, you can play some Trail Ride Blues, you can play some Zydeco. You can play a lot of different music, but that’s not the culture here. We don’t listen to Zydeco, and people don’t Zydeco dance.

Miller: That’s why you asked him to take part in this?

McClellan: No, no, I wanted him to create an environment that Portlanders felt comfortable in. And I wanted him to bring that energy that he brings to the Blazers games and play stuff that’s familiar here. We’re gonna sprinkle in a little bit of trap country and some of the stuff that gets rodeo crowds excited. But for the most part we’re gonna build a culture here in Portland, a rodeo culture that fits into this area.

Miller: You’re calling this the ‘Inaugural 8 Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo.’ Does that mean that the plan is, this is the first annual Rodeo?

McClellan: Yeah, I was told by a friend, John Goodwin, from the Portland Art Museum that you can’t say, " First annual” because it’s not annual yet, because it hasn’t happened more than once, so…

Miller: But that is your hope and your plan, that this is gonna be a new tradition?

McClellan: My vision is that I’ll get better at it, I’m learning a lot. The cowboys are correcting me where I’m wrong and that I’ll be doing this 10 years later and be really, really good at it and really, really known for it. We’re doing a rodeo scholarship this year and we’re gonna get five kids, six weeks of horse riding lessons. And I’m hoping that in those 10 years, we’ll have cowboys from Portland competing in the rodeo.

Miller: Ivan McClellan and Ja’Dayia Kursh, thanks very much for joining us.

Kursh: Thank you so much for having me.

McClellan: Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it.

Miller: Ivan McClellan is a photographer and the creator of the first “8-Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo.” Ja’Dayia Kursh is gonna be there. She is Arkansas’s first Black Rodeo Queen. She was crowned in 2017.

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