The Steer Wrestler

Bill Pickett invented a rodeo move called bulldogging: he leaped from his horse onto a running steer and wrestled it to the ground. The trick still anchors rodeos today, now called steer wrestling.

Pickett performed for huge crowds across America and even in England. Yet the National Cowboy Hall of Fame did not induct him until 1972, long after his white peers were honored.

Pickett's fame faded from the Western myth even though he had been one of its biggest live draws. Recognition kept arriving late.

When the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016, its galleries put the broader Black Western story before the public, finally giving riders like Pickett a place in the national record.