T E X A S
MetroNews DELIVERING NEWS YOU NEED
• Vol. 10 • Jan. 26 - Feb. 1, 2023
MY TRUTH By Cheryl Smith PUBLISHER
I am traumatized Oftentimes when I see or read of people who say they can’t watch certain movies about the peculiar institution of slavery I have usually responded, “at least you didn’t have to live through it.” For me, everyone needs to see what slavery was about. Unfortunately, however, there are legislators who don’t want those stories shown or told. I totally understand because I wouldn’t want anyone to know if my people were part of some of the most savage and inhumane acts ever. I believe everyone needs to see the atrocities of an era in this country’s history and hopefully they will say, “never again.” I say never again when I think about how brutal society has been to women, especially women of color. It saddens me. Actually it pisses me off. Which brings me to my truth. I’ve read so many books and watched numerous movies about slavery and I have actually cried with the victims and cussed the perpetrators. I have been traumatized so much that watching the pain and suffering of Black women today, sometimes perpetrated by other women, causes me so much stress. Recently I watched the travesty in Mexico where someone filmed Shanquella Robinson getting beaten by another lady as if it were a sport. An autopsy revealed that Ms. Robinson suffered a broken neck and cracked spine. That her death doesn’t receive the outcry as is the case See MY TRUTH, page 6
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Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Honorees see page 8-9
Black Cowboys Exhibit rich with history, helps tell untold stories
By Sylvia Dunnavant Hines Since he was 2 years old, Kevin Woodson wanted to be a cowboy. It didn’t take him long to realize that Black cowboys weren’t really believable, or so he was told over and over again. That’s why Woodson, who shares the history of numerous Black men, women and children who worked on ranches and participated in cattle drives, says exhibits such as “Black From left, Robby Hearn, Harlan Hearn and Wendell Hearn, sons of rodeo Hall of Photo: Sylvia Hines / Texas Metro News Cowboys: An American Story,” Famer Cleo Hearn. at the African American back the curtains of HolMuseum, and others like it lywood as people see and are so important. share stories like the fact “As Black cowboys we the classic The Lone Rangspend all of our lives not er TV show was based on only doing what we love, a Black man named Bass but showing people that Reeves. He also wants to we are real,” said 66-yearmake sure that the truth is old Woodson, who is from revealed about the WestDenton and announces ern star TV character the rodeos for Cowboys of Duke, played by actor John Color, an organization foWayne. That character was cused on showcasing the based on a real Black cow“best rodeo cowboy talboy named Britt Johnson, ent,” while educating peosays Woodson. ple about the roles African, “Because of traditional Native, Hispanic and Euwestern movies, people ropean Americans played have been indoctrinated Kim Brown looks at Glen Brown while getting on a in settling the American saddle in the “Black Cowboys: An American Story” to think that all cowboys West. exhibit during its opening day on Saturday at the are white guys, and that Woodson hopes the ex- African American Museum in Fair Park in Dallas. is simply not true,” said Photo: Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer hibit’s narrative helps pull Woodson, who has a career in rodeo, which he says has become an open door for people to see Black cowboys in action. “Most people don’t get to see folks on ranches doing ranch work. It is like anything else, if you don’t see it, you don’t believe it. I still get people who ask me do I just wear a big hat, or do I know how to ride a horse,” said Woodson. Antique saddles, videos and photographs at the exhibit reveal that not only are Black cowPeople stop to read the informative pillars in the “Black Cowboys: An American boys real and know how to ride Story” exhibit during its opening day on Saturday at the African American horses, but they also played a major role in Texas western hisMuseum in Fair Park in Dallas. Photo: Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
The sons of Hall of Famer Cleo Hearn, along with rodeo announcer Kevin Woodson are today’s real life cowboys tory. That’s the story visitors will see, the impact of Black cowboys from the Civil War through the turn of the 20th century.
Kevin Woodson, a rodeo announcer and Black cowboy Photo: submitted / submitted
“The exhibit of the Black Cowboy fills the gap of what has been taught about the American West. We want to tell the true story of what it was really like and not the romanticized version that we see on TV and in many of the movies,” said Robert Edison, curator of the Dallas African American Museum at Fair Park. The exhibit includes two galleries with Black cowboys who helped cultivate the ranches of Texas and Oklahoma. The galleries are filled with artifacts depicting their lifestyles. For Harlan Hearn and his two brothers Robby and Wendell, who attended the exhibit on Saturday, being a cowboy is evSee BLACK COWBOYS EXHIBIT, page 7