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In the last few years, Black cowboy culture has taken the world by storm. From Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” to the rise of ‘Cowboy Core’ fashion trends, the contributions of Black and Indigenous Americans to the aesthetics of Western culture are finally receiving some long-deserved recognition.
Beyond aesthetics, though, most of the coverage given to cowboy culture is about the history of Black cowboys and the American West. What is often lost in this is the fact that Black cowboys are alive and well, and their values continue to inform the growth of thousands of young people across the country.
Urban Saddles is a Black-owned, Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization with a mission to build hope and opportunity for youth and community through the equine experience and the cowboy code of the West. In this StoryCorps interview, founder Ghuan Featherstone speaks with his 13-year-old mentee, Jordan, about their love for horses and what they’ve learned from the cowboy code. For Featherstone, the most important lesson for young people is “respect for all life. We’re respecting the animals, and we’re respecting each other.”
Across the country, in Philadelphia, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club (FSURC) carries the cowboy code through the streets of North Philly. Founded in 2004, the organization provides an alternative to outdoor leisure activity to the community and engages urban youth in equestrian sports while teaching life skills, instilling discipline, and promoting academic excellence. The 20-year-old organization has made it its mission to create healthy opportunities for Philadelphia’s young people to connect with animals and each other.
Earlier this year, in partnership with Mural Arts Philadelphia, acclaimed visual artist Mz. Icar painted a mural in celebration of Philly’s ATV, motorbike, and horseback riding culture. Introduced as the ‘Ride Out Project,’ the mural and mini-documentary include a dedication to the horseback riders of FSURC. To see the mural, visit 1719 68th Ave in the West Oak Lane neighborhood of North Philly. To learn more about the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, visit their website at www.fsurc.com or their Facebook and Instagram pages.
You can listen to the full story below:
This is the third in a series of short editorials that highlight powerful and positive Black stories from our partners at StoryCorps. This post and accompanying audio appear with the permission of StoryCorps, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time. Find out more about their programming, including their upcoming initiative Brightness in Black, at storycorps.org.
The audio story was first aired on NPR’s Morning Edition on January 28th, 2022. You can read more here.
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