Black Rodeo
A History of the African American Western

Mia Mask (Author)

9780252086977

Paperback / softback, published 28 February 2023

296 pages, 25 color photographs, 17 black & white photographs
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.513 kg

"This is a book for movie buffs, Black history enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates solid research and good storytelling." --Roundup Magazine "Richly researched. . . . This carefully crafted academic treatment will enhance library shelves." --Library Journal (starred review) "A unique take on a key genre of cinema." --Film Stage “Mask provides an insightful commentary on the Civil Rights era and its African-American-themed Westerns from today's perspective.”--Angela Aleiss, author of Hollywood's Native Americans: Stories of Identity and Resistance “An enormously useful tool with which to teach these films as a crucial part of the history of American cinema and images of the African American West in the classroom.” --Western American Literature

African American westerns have a rich cinematic history and visual culture. Mia Mask examines the African American western hero within the larger context of film history by considering how Black westerns evolved and approached wide-ranging goals. Woody Strode’s 1950s transformation from football star to actor was the harbinger of hard-edged western heroes later played by Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher provided a narrative helmed by a groundbreaking African American director and offered unconventionally rich roles for women. Mask moves from these discussions to consider blaxploitation westerns and an analysis of Jeff Kanew’s hard-to-find 1972 documentary about an all-Black rodeo. The book addresses how these movies set the stage for modern-day westploitation films like Django Unchained. 

A first-of-its kind survey, Black Rodeo illuminates the figure of the Black cowboy while examining the intersection of African American film history and the western.

Acknowledgments

Introduction