Cowboys of Color: Mollie Taylor-Stevenson, Jr. on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Remember growing wanting to be a cowboy or cowgirl? The old western movies captured all of our imaginations. But rarely did we see cowboys who reflected the diversity of the west and our country.

On Saturday, July 19, 2014, join us as we continue to discuss Cowboys of Color; their history, heritage, and culture on Living Your Best Life Radio. We will be joined by National Multicultural Western Heritage Hall of Fame Inductee, Mollie Taylor-Stevenson, Jr., founder of the American Cowboy Museum located in the Houston, Texas area. Mollie, Jr. will share with us her rich heritage and life as an American Cowgirl.

Mollie, Jr.'s family ranch is 150 year working ranch. Listen to Mollie, Jr. share about her great-grandmother, a former slave, who Mollie, Jr. has a copy of her slave papers. Mollie, Jr. parents were HBCU educated who became entrepreneurial ranchers. Hear her share about her mother, Fisk University grad, and her father, a Tuskegee graduate, and how they started the first Black owned airport and aviation school in the country, Sky Ranch, on their land.

Mollie, Jr. will also discuss keeping your family land, farm work ethnic, educating children about the west, and why it is important to know your country and family's history. This lively interview will be entertaining and educational as you learn more about our country's western heritage.

 Living Your Best Life Radio, radio that empowers, inspires, and motivates you to live your BEST life, can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, Tune In, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also air on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network (XM 142).

Follow the #cowboysofcolor hash tag on Facebook and Twitter.


 National Multicultural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet

More About Mollie Taylor-Stevenson, Jr. 

Mollie's parents believed that education was very important, they not only educated their own children, but countless others with food, books, tuition payments and entire college educations. Mollie, Jr., worked as a professional model in Houston, Kansas City and New York, but she was drawn back home where she worked side by side with her mother to preserve their legacy. She established the American Cowboy Museum, a 501(c)(3) organization in 1987. It honors the contributions to Western culture of African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and women.

Mollie Jr. is a 1963 graduate of Houston's Jack Yates High School and attended Texas Southern University as a business major from 1963-1967. For 15 years, Stevenson worked as a professional model. The busy rancher and museum director finds time to volunteer for the black trail riding and rodeo associations, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Black Landowners Association. She has appeared in numerous radio, television and newspaper interviews, and has been featured as a woman in a nontraditional occupation in such magazines as Texas Highways, Ebony, and Essence.

Mollie, Jr. is also a journalist and an active volunteer with the Sugar Shack Trailride and various other rodeo trailride associations. Mollie has been honored by numerous schools as a motivational speaker and event coordinator. She is also a charter member of the Speakers and Black Go Texan Committee of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Professional Black Cowboy & Cowgirl Association, the Landowners of Texas, and her favorite, the Diamond L Riding & Roping Club.

To acquaint a new generation with this rich history, Mollie offers school tours, leather crafts for visiting children, lectures, a traveling exhibit with a quilt display, horseback riding, a mobile petting zoo, and living history presentations. She also encourages young people to consider careers in agribusiness and land ownership and sponsors FFA and 4-H students.

Mollie and her mother are the first living African-Americans inducted in The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. 

Photos: Submitted by Mollie Taylor-Stevenson, Jr.

Cowboys of Color: Harold Cash and Vincent Jacobs on Living Your Best Life Radio with Genma Holmes

Remember growing wanting to be a cowboy or cowgirl? The old western movies captured all of our imaginations. But rarely did we see cowboys who reflected the diversity of the west and our country.

On Saturday, July 12, 2014, listen to men who careers have been in the rodeo, true American Cowboys of Color. Tune in to hear from legendary heroes, Harold Cash and Vincent Jacobs. Listen to them share how they broke racial barriers to tour the rodeo circuit and how they are making sure the complete story of the American Cowboy is told accurately.

Harold Cash who was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2010 credits his education from Prairie View  A& M College to him being a part of the Rodeo. Listen to him share highlights from his stellar career as rodeo star, working in the oil business, and owning the first Black Country Western Club in Houston, Texas. Cash believes in bring others along on his journey. Hear him share how he honors others who have gone before him on the rodeo cirucut.

Vincent Jacobs, a 50-year resident of Barrett Station, is recognized as a legendary African-American Cowboys in Texas. At 15, he was introduced to competitive bull riding, and in 1970 he was one of the first black men to ride in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Hear him share what it was like to be a trailblazer among trailblazers. Jacobs will be inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame on in July.

Living Your Best Life Radio, radio that empowers, inspires, and motivates you to live your BEST life, can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, Tune In, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also air on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network (XM 142).

Follow the #cowboysofcolor hash tag on Facebook and Twitter.

More About the Rode Hall of Fame Mission

The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and Hall of Fame is dedicated to honoring and documenting the lives of men and women who have made exemplary contributions to Western Heritage, past and present.

More About Harold Cash

For years Harold was a spectator with his grandfather, however in 1967 hometown cowboy friends Elijah and Charlie Davis entered him into his first rodeo at the S.P. Picnic Ground. Thus his rodeo career began. Thereafter in 1969 Cash teamed up and traveled with his mentor, “The World Greatest” Willie Thomas, Sr. to cities and states such as Chicago, Denver, New York, Washing D.C. and Oklahoma participating in rodeos. Even though Cash rode bulls, he specialized in Bare Back Riding. He was an expert at riding the “Bad One’s” especially those that stock contractors thought no one could ride. One memorable ride was when Harold Cash rode a horse in Washington, D.C. known as the horse of the year named “Playboy” owned by the Thera Latting Rodeo Production of Robbins, Illinois. Cash won the All American Rodeo Association Champion Bare Back Buckle in1979 and 1981. Along with numerous trophies and Awards in his rodeo career, in 1995 Cash won the Old Time Rodeo Association Bare Back Buckle, which is when he retired from the arena.

In 1982, Cash became the Co-owner of the first Black Country Western Club in Houston, Texas with his friend Myrtis Dightman. In 1985, he became the sole owner of the “Tie Down Saloon” Country and Western Club in Texas City, Texas. In addition, some of Harold Cash’s community accomplishments are, Master Mason Grand Lodge 112, - Logos Bible Institute, Houston, Texas, - Ike Carden Rodeo Association - Over the Hill & Future Cowboy Rodeo Association, - Galveston County Fair & Rodeo Association - Houston Livestock show and Rodeo Black Professional Cowboy & Cowgirl Association – Texas House of Representatives Honored as an outstanding example of a Texas icon-A real cowboy –and the President of the All American Youth Rodeo Association.

More About Vincent Jacobs

Vincent Jacobs is an American cowboy who grew up in the 1940s. He challenges what is written as history with factual information about the American West and speaks often at schools and colleges about the accuracy of American History. He notes many movies about the "Wild West" are Hollywood versions of stories that omit the role of black cowboys in our Western culture. Jacobs states many stories were changed to make material for a number of films like The Lone Ranger which was said to be inspired by Bass Reeves, a former slave who had an illustrious career as a U.S. Marshall. Also, the film, The Searchers, is based on a novel by Alan Le May, which was inspired by legendary Brit Johnson, a famous black cowboy. In recent years, black characters appear more in films such as Wild West Posse, Unforgiven, and Django Unchained. But Hollywood has ignored the ethnic diversity of the cowboy in American West which is considered the birthplace of America where Americans made ​​a difference to people of European descent. The West is seen as a frontier where white people showed their courage but does not depict many people of color who had no rights under the U.S. Constitution were just as courageous and made many historical contributions to our society in spite of the circumstances that prohibited them from being considered citizens. Jacobs still fights for all Americans who have contributed so much to recognized and honored.

Jacobs has been recognized by many organizations and is honored to be nominated into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Cowboys of Color on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

On Saturday, June 28, 2014, author, musician, and historian, Art. T. Burton,will join us to continue our discussion on Cowboys of Color; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Mr. Burton has studied the Wild West extensively for several decades. He will share with us stories about many popular figures like Bill Pickett, U.S. Deputy Marshall Bass Reeves, and the Buffalo Soldiers but Burton will also enlighten us on many stories about cowboys from his researched and books that are not as prominent in our history.

What is often left out of many popular cowboy stories that are written today is the multicultural makeup of our Western Heritage and the influence of Asian, Black, Hispanic, Latino, and Native Americans who helped shaped the Wild, Wild West way of life. Mr. Burton who lectures around the world on Western Heritage and Cultural shows us the richness of our country's diversity and why we all should want to learn more about The American Cowboys of Color; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“(Black, Red, and Deadly: Black and Indian Gunfighters of the Indian Territories, 1870-1907) is a meaningful addition to my library, especially with the recent dedication of the Buffalo Soldier Monument. Your book illuminates another exciting chapter in the story of the outstanding contributions made by African Americans to our Nation's history.”

- Colin L. Powell,
65th United States Secretary of State, American statesman and a
retired four-star general in the United States Army.

"When we have no understanding of our history, we can not appreciate the potential that our future holds."

Living Your Best Life Radio, radio that empowers, inspires, and motivates you to live your BEST life, can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, Tune In, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also air on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network (XM 142).
Follow the #cowboysofcolor hash tag on Facebook and Twitter.

More About Art. T. Burton 

Art T. Burton has a distinguished career in education and the arts. He received bachelor and masters degrees in cultural and ethnic studies at Governors State University (GSU), where he served as student assistant dean. Additionally, he was selected as a recipient of “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities,” and traveled to Brazil with GSU’s award-winning Jazz Band as their percussionist.

Burton was Recruitment and Admissions Counselor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Coordinator of Minority Affairs and Admissions Counselor at Illinois Benedictine College. He taught ethnic and cultural studies at Prairie State College, South Suburban College, and Governors State University. Burton spent ten years at Loyola University as Assistant Dean of Students and Director of African American Student Affairs. Burton was the Director of Student Development/Minority Affairs at Columbia College in Chicago for seven years. He is currently a professor of History at South Suburban College in South Holland, IL. He is a recipient of the “Living Black History “ Award. In 1983 and 1990 he was selected as an “Outstanding Young Man of America” in recognition of professional achievement, superior leadership ability, and service to the community. As author of Black, Red and Deadly, he has been interviewed by radio and television hosts and was featured in the November 1994 issue of Emerge magazine. His book is being considered for a feature film on African- Americans in the West. Initiated by Burton, the major character in the book, Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshall, was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

Burton is a member of the Chicago based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (A.A.C.M.) since 1973, Burton has shared musical experiences with Dizzy Gillespie, Muhal Richard Abrams, Chico Freeman, Amina Claudine Myers, Lester Bowie, Henry Threadgill, and Elvin Jones. In 1996, Art played percussion on saxophonist Vandy Harris’ recording PURE FIRE. In 1998, he played percussion on a critically received recording by noted Chicago saxophonist Ari Brown titled VENUS for the Delmark label. Art was elected Chairman of the Association for the A.A.C.M. for the year of 2011. He has played the bongo and conga drums professionally for over 30 years.